You Brought Me To Life
by gryffindormariah
Summary: Love shouldn't be easy. It should be lust, and desperation, and pain, and sadness, and regret, and fucking you in the ass over and over (hypothetically). But if you can get past that, you get to the good stuff, like tenderness, and understanding, and comfort, and friendship, and infatuation, and pleasure, and fucking you in the ass over and over (literally). Rated M for reasons.
1. Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Kurt sat down in his usual seat in the back beside Mercedes for first block world history. Mr. Hanford stood up from his chair as the warning bell rang, and walked over to the door to close it, when someone Kurt had definitely never seen before walked in.

He had perfectly tanned skin, and a head of dark curls. He was wearing a ratty black leather jacket and skinny jeans, and earrings?

Mr. Hanford raised his eyebrows at the boy and he held his hand. "Blaine Anderson," said the boy who now had a name.

Kurt looked around the class and saw several jaws agape, and most of the female class ogling Blaine. Santana looked at Kurt and bugged her eyes out. Kurt looked back at the boy and saw Mr. Hanford shaking his hand. He turned to the class. "Everybody welcome McKinley's newest student, Blaine Anderson."

Hardly anyone clapped; many of them too busy checking out Blaine shamelessly. Blaine just shrugged and sat down in the seat in front of Santana, tossing his messenger bag on the empty chair beside him as the final bell rang. As class got started, their teacher passed around a worksheet and he went over to Blaine's desk and started to explain it to him.

Blaine didn't seem all too interested in whatever he was saying, and finished the worksheet faster than most of the class. He sat back in his seat and plugged in earphones and Kurt eyed him. Blaine shrugged off his jacket, to show off a tight polo shirt hugging his arms perfectly.

Santana leaned closer to Kurt and whispered, "McKinley doesn't make 'em like that, Hummel, but that doesn't justify staring at him like he's something to eat."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Santana."

Mr. Hanford started going on about a group project, and Kurt didn't listen until he started listening until he heard names being paired together. A group project. Great.

"Kurt, you will be working with..." Kurt tensed as Mr. Hanford read down the attendance to find him a partner. "Mr. Anderson."

Blaine turned around to see anyone reacting, and his eyes fell on Kurt. Kurt didn't smile, or even nod, he just stared. Blaine smirked and turned back around as Mr. Hanford finished reading off names. He started going off about the assignment, but Kurt didn't listen at all, because oh god, he was working with the hot new kid, he couldn't focus on anything else.

"Please go off with your partners." Mr. Hanford said before taking a seat behind his computer. Mercedes went off to be with her partner, and Blaine took her seat beside Kurt.

Blaine peeked at his syllabus that Mr. Hanford had given anything and Kurt decided introductions were in order. "Hi, I'm Kurt."

Blaine looked up at him with a vague look of surprise on his face, and grinned. He held out his hand, for a surprisingly firm handshake. "Blaine." he returned.

Kurt took a deep breath. No need to panic, just a totally hot new kid you now have to work on a project with.

A crease formed in between Blaine's eyebrows and he asked, "Are you alright? You look a little…" he trailed off, pursing his lips.

Kurt flushed again and ducked his head. "Yes. Fine, thanks."

Blaine chuckled mutely and said, "Alright… Kurt," he said his name as though he were testing it out. "Let's start working."

Kurt grabbed his handout and started reading it for the first time, but Blaine started talking.

"I should probably tell you from the get-go, I don't work well with others, I haven't a great track record." He said bluntly, tipping back in his chair and gazing at Kurt. "And we have a month to work on this project when it'll take two weeks tops, so you might want to just sit this one out."

Kurt set down his paper and looked up at Blaine in shock. "Excuse me?" Blaine's eyebrows were raised. "Do you think I'm stupid, or something?"

Blaine looked vaguely surprised, but also like he was trying to hide it. "Maybe. Everyone else I've met today is borderline brain dead, I had to assume."

Kurt's eyes were narrowed to slits, and he said sharply, "Well I'm sorry to disappoint, but my grades are nearly perfect, and I'm not going to sit this one out."

A smirk worked its way onto Blaine's face and after a moment of consideration he said, "Fine. Don't. All I'm saying, is you're not going to enjoy spending a whole lot of time with me to work on this."

"And why's that?" Kurt asked briskly, clutching his binder to his chest.

Blaine shrugged. "Well no offense, Kurt, but you've so far come across as a little uppity, if you know what I mean," Blaine actually had the nerve to wink at Kurt as he said that. "And I haven't done very well in the past with people like that."

Kurt clenched his jaw. Do not punch him in the face. He is not worth a weeks worth of detention. "Well," he said through gritted teeth. "You've come across as entirely arrogant and rude, but I think I'll be able to ignore it long enough to finish this assignment."

Blaine smirked. "But it's too bad, because this is for the whole rest of the semester."

"What?" Kurt said immediately.

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "And I thought I was a bad listener."

Kurt's jaw clenched. "I'm not a bad listener," he hissed. "I was distracted."

Blaine snorted. "Okay, Kurt, no need to get pissy with me," he said obnoxiously. "Just unwind a little."

Kurt scoffed. "Yeah, okay. And how do you suppose I do that?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't know, take a bath, get a massage, if you want, I could suck your dick-"

"Excuse me?" Kurt interrupted, blushing to the roots of his hair.

Blaine didn't seem to think he did anything wrong. And Kurt shuffled his papers, infuriated to the point his hands were shaking, and all he could do was mutter under his breath, "Buy me dinner first."

Blaine chuckled and said, "Sure thing, sweetheart. But as I was saying before, we're partners all semester. Hanford said so when he handed out our papers."

Kurt closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "Fantastic." Another cocky asshole was exactly what the doctor ordered. More so than even that, a cocky, _attractive,_ possibly gay asshole.

"So when are you free? There's a lot of research and things we're gonna have to do." Blaine asked.

Kurt took a deep breath. Just do the work quickly and get it all over with. Like pulling a tooth. "After school. Meet me in the library at 2:15."

"2:15," Blaine agreed as Mr. Hanford started talking again.

After school, Kurt started off toward the library after saying his goodbyes with Mercedes, and made sure Finn could get a ride home after football. It was 2:30, and Blaine still wasn't there. Kurt started shoving his books roughly into his bag again just as the dark haired boy walked into the library, holding a stack of books. He spotted Kurt and made his way over as Kurt started pulling his books back out of his bag.

"You're late." Kurt informed him as he sat down.

"Sorry," Blaine apologized. "I had to talk to some teachers, grab a couple textbooks for my classes." Kurt peered at his books and tried not to look at all impressed; Italian 4, AP English, AP Bio. He didn't want to say anything good about Blaine, but those were hard classes. He'd kind of assumed he'd be the barely-passing-tenth-grade-classes type of junior Puck was, just because of how unpleasant he was when he met him.

"Well, let's get started," he said listlessly, pulling out the rubric for the assignment and reading it over.

As it turned out, working with Blaine wasn't the excruciatingly painful shitfest he'd imagined. He actually did his work, and probably more than his fair share too, and he did it well. He wasn't loud and rowdy, he was actually rather subdued, though that could've just been the atmosphere of the library. But what really struck Kurt was that he was smart. Surprisingly smart, actually.

But what kind of sucked working with Blaine, was he was really distracting. Not because he was being stupid or especially obnoxious, but Kurt could hardly keep himself from looking at how his long eyelashes left shadows on his cheeks, and how full his lips looked with a pen hanging out of it, and those stupid curls.

Blaine glanced up at Kurt and saw him staring. "See something you like?" he asked playfully, taking the pen out of his mouth and licking his lips.

Kurt blushed but said, "You wish."

Blaine laughed. "Well you're not wrong." He said.

Kurt just rolled his eyes and didn't respond. Blaine let barely a second of silence pass before he said, "So how 'bout it?"

Kurt looked up at him again. "How about what?"

Blaine grinned. "A date. Let's say Friday night? I'll take you out to eat if you want, or we skip dinner and just get the good stuff in the back of your car."

Kurt's jaw dropped and he blushed to the roots of his hair. "I cannot believe you just said that."

Blaine shrugged. "I don't see why I wouldn't have." He said easily, "Sounds like something I'd say."

Kurt shook his head incredulously. "Well, you _sound _incredibly arrogant." He said. He'd never been asked out before, he'd admit that. But he'd certainly hoped it would've been classier than some asshole who thought Kurt would hook up with him in the back of a _car._

"Fair enough," Blaine said, peering back down at his textbook.

Kurt stared at him, waiting for another boneheaded response, but got nothing. "That's it?"

Blaine looked up in surprise. "A gentlemen takes 'no' for an answer." He replied.

Kurt snorted. "Oh, and you're a gentleman?" he asked incredulously.

Blaine shrugged. "It's my secret past-life, I suppose." Kurt rolled his eyes. "What? You don't have a secret past-life? The old version of you you'd prefer to not think about?"

Kurt shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together. Blaine raised a questioning eyebrow at him and pulled a laptop out of his bag. "What are you doing?" Kurt asked as Blaine started on his computer.

Blaine just wiggled his eyebrows at him. A minute or so later, he said, "You know, you should really put up some privacy settings. Any creep could look through your Facebook if they wanted to."

Kurt smacked his book shut. "You're looking through my Facebook?" he asked loudly enough to be shushed by the nearby librarian.

Blaine smirked at him. "Jeez, Kurt, take it down a few notches, we're in the library." Kurt rolled his eyes. "There. Friend request sent."

Kurt rolled his eyes and opened up his book. He tried. He tried reading about Charlemagne, he did, but he couldn't when every other second he heard Blaine giggling at something he found on his Facebook page.

"What? What is so funny?" he asked finally, setting his book down again.

"You were a cheerleader?" he asked, biting down on his lower lip to try and hide his smile. Kurt nodded jerkily, his face flushing with anger. "You're unashamed? That's not a secret past-life?"

Kurt inhaled deeply and answered, "Yes, I was a cheerleader, but it's not a secret."

Blaine continued looking through his old Facebook photos and status', bringing up the lower points in Kurt's life, hoping to get some kind of reaction. Kurt was trying to not let himself be bothered by it, but Blaine was making it extremely difficult.

"You're in glee club?" Blaine asked after an impossibly short amount of silence had passed, attempting to hide his smile by pressing his lips tight together.

Kurt's jaw clenched. "Yes. Problem?"

Blaine shook his head. "Not at all; secret past-life Blaine was in a glee club too."

"Sure," he mumbled doubtfully, going back to his book.

Blaine cocked his head. "He was – I was." He sounded almost offended that Kurt didn't believe him, his displeasure written on his face.

Kurt rested his head on his hands, propping his elbows on the table. "Can you even sing?" he asked in the most patronizing voice he could muster.

"Yes," Blaine said indignantly. "I can sing."

Kurt snorted. "Whatever you say," he said in a sing-song voice. He looked up at Blaine and almost laughed at the look on his face, growing more and more frustrated.

He pointed an accusatory finger at Kurt and said, "You're driving me crazy." Kurt just laughed.

He thinks back to maybe a week before when Santana was talking about how Kurt needed to embrace his _animal magnetism_ or whatever, but he was starting to think he was getting more… magnetic, if the way Blaine kept looking at him was any indication. He was looking at him like he was going to _eat _him. Not in the way that he felt threatened, but whenever he looked up, Kurt saw Blaine was looking at him with hungry eyes.

Eventually he had to ask, "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "I'm trying to figure that out." He said, twisting his pen between his fingers. "I think you just… intrigue me."

Kurt felt his cheeks warm up and he dropped his head. No one had ever called him intriguing before. "You're also incredibly vexing. I'm not sure which one's more prevalent."

"Okay," Kurt said, rolling his eyes. "How about, for the rest of the time we have to be here, you don't say _anything_. You also don't look at me, you just do your work." He suggested aggressively, shuffling his papers and getting back into his book.

They spent another hour and a half in the library before they decided they'd done enough work for that day. Besides, Kurt wasn't positive how much longer he and Blaine could stay in the same room without either ripping each other in half or making out over the table.

**?!**

Blaine didn't see Kurt throughout the week apart from the one class they shared together, and even then, they didn't really talk. Blaine got the impression Kurt didn't like him, so he didn't push it. Besides, when Kurt refused to acknowledge him, he was able to stare at him. The Spanish chick who sat there commented to him about the 'longing in his puppy eyes' but Blaine just told her to screw herself. Of course, that turned into a very lengthy challenge about which one of them could insult the other more, which got them sent to the office in the middle of class. She was pretty pissed at him after that, so she ignored him too. The weird blonde still talked to him, but Blaine actually wished she'd take a leaf out of her bestie's book and stop talking to him too.

Blaine walked out of Mr. Radner's room Friday afternoon with his bag thrown over his shoulder. John would throw a fit he was getting home so late, but detention was worth seeing the look on Radner's face when he hit Mike with his textbook and called him an infidel. He and Mike were becoming good friends, because they were both smart and could work together, and also Mike missed having some guy called "Puck" as a bad boy, so he enjoyed Blaine's antics. Anyway, he landed himself a detention for that afternoon while Mike got a "stern talking-to."

He walked out to the student parking lot but was derailed by music. He followed the faint noise after confirming it was music, and he wasn't crazy, and it led him to the auditorium. He stepped inside and saw the entire thing was done up in lights and setting, and – _holy shit, was that Kurt?_

_It's astounding_

_Time is fleeting_

_Madness…_

_Takes its toll_

Blaine grew a huge grin and he sat down in one of the back seats. That was Kurt dressed as Riff Raff? He peered at all the other people on stage taking part in the performance, and was pretty sure it was the glee club, because he saw that annoying girl from his third block with the big nose, and the gigantic kid she was always making out with in the hallways.

He had to admit they were good. Not as good as his old glee clubs because they only had like, three good dancers, but they had nice voices and their costumes were actually pretty great. He watched them finish the time warp, and the Spanish teacher stood up from his seat and started clapping for them, so he took it as his cue to leave. He stood up from his spot in the back row and as they started talking to the Spanish teacher, he stepped out of the auditorium and back into the hallway.

He walked out to his bike and hitched his bag higher onto his shoulder. His first week at McKinley was over. He hadn't found his place at the school yet, but he'd made like, two and a half friends, and he hadn't been sent to the principal's office more than once, so that was _something_. He pulled on his helmet and stowed away his bag and got on, revving the engine and driving home. It could've been a better first week, but it was still better than the last few first weeks he's had. Progress is progress, at any rate.


	2. Things Were Kinda Heavy

Kurt walked into school on Monday morning and actually had a smile on his face – cute outfit, good skin day, his hair looked perfect – until it was ruined. Per usual.

He wasn't as prepared as he usually was for the oncoming shove into the lockers, and he slammed into them hard, not thinking fast enough to even catch himself. He looked up to see Karofsky and Azimio high-fiving as they walked away, laughing to themselves.

He sat up against the lockers and closed his eyes, taking a long, much-needed breath. _Just one more year_, he reminded himself.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kurt opened his eyes and saw a pair of legs in front of his, he lifted his gaze just high enough to see an outstretched hand, and he took it gratefully, letting them pull him up. He looked up and saw who the hand belonged to; that asshole from his history class.

He took his hand back quickly and adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder. "Oh, it's you." He said before he could stop himself.

Blaine's expression fell for such a small moment before he caught himself that Kurt almost missed it. He smirked, "Nice to see you too, Kurt."

Kurt just brushed himself off and sighed. God, this was not how he wanted to start his day. He started walking away, but Blaine kept up with him. "You're not very chipper in the mornings, huh?"

"Not to people I don't want to talk to." Wow, he _needed _to work on his filter.

At least it got Blaine to drop his stupid, attractive smirk. Stupid. Stupid smirk. Blaine nodded with his lips pressed tightly together. "You really don't like me, do you?"

Kurt just looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He didn't dislike Blaine as much as he was putting off. He thought he was annoying as all hell, but he wasn't worse than Puck, just more sexual. But he was being kind of hard on him. He didn't really know why, given that he wasn't usually this rude to people he _hated, _like Karofsky, or Puck before they were friends. Besides, Blaine just helped him off the floor.

Blaine gave a single nod and pursed his lips. "Alright," he said, his voice sounding almost disappointed. "See you later."

And with that he was gone. Kurt looked back at him and saw him walk in the opposite direction even though they were almost at their history class. He sighed to himself as he walked into the classroom. That was rude. All Blaine did was help him up off the floor, which was more than he could say for any of his friends. He was obnoxious the other day, but not obnoxious enough to deserve to be verbally kicked in the balls. He sat down and waited for class to start, wanting the floor to just swallow him. Class hadn't even started and today sucked.

**?!**

Blaine didn't go to first block. He didn't really see the point; it was just going to be project work, and Kurt clearly didn't want to talk to him, so he just went back out to his bike as other kids kept filing into the school. He got onto his bike, ignoring the look he got from Mike as he walked in with his girlfriend, and pulled out of the parking lot. He drove to the closest coffee shop, some place called The Lima Bean. He got his usual coffee and biscotti and sat down at a table with his laptop. He may as well get some work done, since he was skipping the time for them to work on their project.

He didn't really get why Kurt was mad at him; sure he was a dick before, he didn't even _do _anything today. Kurt let him pull him up, but as soon as he saw it was Blaine, it was like he was inconveniencing him with his presence. Whatever, Kurt would probably be better off avoiding Blaine anyways.

It wasn't like Kurt matter to him. He was one kid in a school of two thousand; he didn't need the approval of one kid. But Kurt was _interesting, _and he didn't know why. Blaine just liked how he did up his hair, and he liked how bold his outfits were, and he liked that he didn't put up with Blaine's shit, and he liked how much he didn't want anyone's help, and he really like his face. Blaine pulled up Facebook and went to Kurt's page again, but found he couldn't look at it; Kurt put up more privacy settings. He laughed to himself and wondered if he did it because Blaine told him to, or if he did it so Blaine couldn't see his page anymore. Another thing he noticed was Kurt didn't accept his friend request. Living in the 21st century really helped with letting you know where you stand with people.

He shut his laptop and ate his biscotti. Homework could wait. He propped his feet up on the chair across from him and drank his coffee until first block was almost over and walked back outside. When he got to school, he got a very stern look from the lady in the main office who gave him a pass to second block, to which he gave her his most charming grin. Second block was his Italian class and honestly, it was a waste of time; Blaine understood the language better than his teacher. But it was an easy A, so he took it, and he really didn't want to get better acquainted with that pervy-looking Spanish teacher.

After second block, on his way to his third block, he saw Kurt again. He was in a similar position to when Blaine saw him earlier, slumped on the floor, clutching his bag. _Just walk away, Blaine_. He tried to tell himself. But the closer he got, the more he knew he'd be able to leave Kurt, or probably anyone, in a position like this.

So he held out his hand and said, "Alright, down there?"

Kurt opened his eyes and looked at Blaine for a long moment before he took his hand and let Blaine pull him to his feet. He brushed himself off and Blaine straightened up his jacket and the strap of his bag that was falling off.

"You weren't in first block," Kurt pointed out. "Even though I saw you ten minutes before class got started." Blaine nodded and started walking toward his classroom again.

Kurt caught up to him and said, "What, are you ignoring me now?" Blaine shrugged. He helped Kurt up off the ground, he didn't owe him anything else. "I'm sorry about earlier."

Blaine looked at him curiously. "Really? You don't seem the apologizing type." Kurt raised his eyebrows at him. "You just seem a little… stubborn."

Kurt's jaw clenched. "Has anyone ever told you you're incredibly frustrating?"

"Frustrating?" Blaine asked, thinking back. "Obnoxious, rude, arrogant, irritating… but frustrating? I don't think I've ever been called frustrating."

Kurt took a long breath and said, "Anyways, thanks." He went to turn around, but Blaine grabbed his arm so he'd keep walking with him.

"You're welcome." He said, letting go of Kurt's arm and rewriting the rest of his day in his head. "And your apology is accepted. But I was wondering if I could ask why you were so pissed at me this morning?"

Kurt shrugged guiltily and said, "Bad morning? Also, you hadn't exactly made good impression on me."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed easily. "I'm pretty bad at first impressions."

They got to the doors of the cafeteria and Kurt stopped walking. "I should go to class, I have second lunch." He explained.

"Skip." Blaine said simply. "You've had a bad day, skip third block and have lunch with me."

"This isn't my lunch." He said, because it wasn't.

"It's not mine either,"

Kurt raised his eyebrow doubtfully. "I can't skip class, I'll get in trouble."

Blaine shook his head. "Nah, you have Mr. Lanctot right? You have a sub, they won't even notice."

Kurt shook his head. "You might be able to get away with cutting class, but I won't and my dad will find out, and I'll be grounded."

"_Kurt_."

Kurt looked at him for a long minute before he sighed and said, "Fine." He and Blaine got in the lunch line where Blaine insisted on paying, and they sat outside on the steps.

"So tell me," Blaine started, picking at a salad. "Who does that to you?"

"Does what?" Kurt asked idly, spearing a cucumber.

"Shoves you into lockers,"

"Oh," Kurt rolled his eyes. "That would be Karofsky. He's on the football team, he hates me."

Blaine nodded slowly and looked at Kurt like he wanted to say something. "What?" Kurt snapped impatiently.

"Why does he hate you?" Blaine asked slowly.

Kurt shrugged. "If I had to venture a guess… it's because I'm gay."

"You know, if you just stood up to him-"

"He'd leave me alone." Kurt finished lamely, rolling his eyes. "You know, I've heard that so many times, I'm not sure it's ever actually worked for anyone."

"It worked for me." Blaine said.

Kurt looked at him and asked, "So, you're totally gay then?"

Blaine smirked but bit his lip hard to try and hide it. "What gave it away? Was it my offer for a blowjob, or my constant boner whenever we're together?"

Kurt blushed and Blaine didn't know if he mean to, but his eyes flickered down to Blaine's crotch.

"Oh my god, you checked!" Blaine practically yelled. He clapped his hands together as he fell back laughing, laying on the steps, disturbing the people behind them so much they rolled their eyes and moved to another area to eat.

Blaine grabbed Kurt's arm and pulled himself up, still laughing. Kurt pushed Blaine's hand away from him, still blushing bright red. "_Shut_ _up._" He groaned.

Blaine sat up and wiped his eyes, and said, "Okay, okay, I'll behave."

Kurt composed himself and said, "I just wasn't sure if you were messing with me, or you're bisexual, or something."

Blaine nodded. "Okay. Just for the record, I'm _not_. I'm actually very, very gay." He said, tapping his hand on Kurt's thigh. "But I was serious about standing up to him."

Kurt just gave a long sigh, and Blaine crossed his legs Indian style and turned to Kurt. "Listen, at one of my old schools, I was given a lot of crap for being gay. I let kids torment me, even the kids who were my friends before I came out. And it got to the point where I had to transfer schools because it got so bad." Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and tugged on it so Kurt would look him in the eye. "And it was because I didn't do a single thing about it."

Blaine looked at Kurt for a long moment and didn't let go of his hand. Kurt was really attractive. He always could appreciate attractiveness, in anyone really, but Kurt was an usual kind of attractive. Definitely a kind of attractive he _liked. _Shut up, Blaine, you're giving advice. "Prejudice is just ignorance… Kurt."

He didn't need to say his name again, but he liked his name. It was a good name. Kurt was starting to look like he wanted to cry so he said, "Do you want to get out of here?"

"How?" Kurt asked, looking around. "We still have fourth block, you know."

Blaine shrugged. "We can skip, I don't mind."

"Are we suppose to just sit here for another block?" Kurt asked listlessly.

Blaine shot him a dubious look. "Do you really think I don't know how to sneak out of this place?"

He stood up and Kurt took a long, deliberating breath and stood up with him, clutching his bag to his chest. Blaine waited for the bell to ring for the end of lunch before pulling Kurt into the auditorium and to the side door and outside.

"Which car is yours?" he asked.

Kurt led him over to his car, and somehow, Blaine managed to work his car keys out of his pocket without him noticing. Blaine got into the driver's side and Kurt just sighed before hopping into the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" Kurt asked, his voice void of any inflection after they'd turned out of the school parking lot and onto the main roads.

"My house," Blaine answered simply, winding through traffic.

"Wait, what?" Kurt asked. Blaine's posture was rigid, his hands were gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white. "You have a license, right?"

Blaine glanced at him out the corner of his eye. "What? Of course I do."

"You just look really… nervous." he said as they pulled into a neighborhood of large and larger houses.

Blaine didn't answer until he pulled into a driveway. "I don't like driving cars." He said simply, placing Kurt's keys in the front pocket of his bag.

The house they were walking toward had a huge lawn, covered in children's toys, and the exterior was painted a soft cream, and it was _massive_, and not just by Lima's standards. "Wait, this is your house? Like, this is where you live?"

"Technically it's my aunt's, but yeah, I live here." Blaine said as Kurt spotted Blaine's infamous motorcycle near the garage doors.

"Why didn't you take your deathtrap to school today?"

Blaine smirked as Kurt followed him to the front door. "It was raining this morning and my aunt insisted she drop me off." He said, unlocking the house and immediately going up the stairs. Kurt was a little nervous, looking around the spacious house, because what kind of people could afford a house like this? It had a freaking chandelier hanging beside the tall stairs. He was fairly certain they were alone in the house, but still.

"My bedroom," Blaine said grandly, gesturing inside his room. Kurt stepped inside and Blaine said to him, "I'm going to grab a drink from downstairs, make yourself at home."

Kurt nodded to him and Blaine gave him a short smile before he left the room. Kurt peered around, admiring the soft brown color theme, giving the room a very warm feel even though it couldn't've been more than sixty in the house. He walked around a little, stepping out of his boots and taking off his coat and scarf, laying them over the chair at Blaine's desk. His room was very clean for a teenage boy. Kurt loved having things clean, but ever since Carole and Finn moved into their home, nothing can stay clean because Finn and his dad's accumulative messiness, even with Carole's help.

He meandered around the room, spotting some tasteful posters, several toys and knickknacks scattered on dressers and shelves, but stopped when he saw the bookshelf, and the picture on top of it. It was Blaine, no doubt a few years younger, with a middle-aged woman. She was beautiful, and she shared many of Blaine's features, like his curls. But in the picture, Blaine's curls were gelled down so much they were completely undetectable, plastered to his head. He was also wearing a _bow tie._ He laughed to himself and thought back to Blaine's _secret past life _or whatever as the boy in question walked back into the room.

Kurt looked over at him, carrying a tray with two glasses of water on them and a plate of apple slices. For the short amount of time he'd known Blaine, he never thought he'd be in his bedroom for one, but he never thought he'd ever think of him as this _cute._ With his old fifties aesthetics and plates of sliced fruit. Blaine set the tray down on his bedside table and walked over to Kurt as the latter held up the photograph.

"Secret past life?" he guessed. Blaine nodded, though Kurt noticed his cheeks went slightly pink. He placed the picture back in its spot and asked, "Who's that with you?"

"My mom." Blaine answered, looking at the picture fondly. Kurt was going to respond to that but before he did, his eyes caught a very interesting thing on Blaine's bookshelf. Amongst the _Harry Potter,_ and Ellen Degeneres' autobiography, "You own Patti Lupone's new book?" he looked up at Blaine excitedly, snagging the book off the shelf. "You've actually read this book?"

Blaine grinned at Kurt's obvious excitement and said, "Yes, I've read it; I've got to fall into the stereotype somewhere."

Kurt laughed aloud, surprising himself and Blaine, before sliding the book back into its slot on the shelf. Blaine grabbed his elbow and tugged him back to his bed where he sat down and grabbed a glass of water off the tray. Kurt sat down beside him and took an apple slice.

"So what're we supposed to do?" he asked, nibbling on his apple.

Blaine shrugged. "Relax, snack, read poetry to each other, I don't know." He spread himself out on the bed, making it clear he planned on relaxing. "You can take a nap if you want, or if you _really _want –"

"Don't even go there," Kurt cut him off immediately, but still blushing.

Blaine smiled before he scooted closer to Kurt. "Or, if you want to, we could talk about what happened." He suggested gently.

Kurt's eyebrow furrowed at him. "Talk about what?"

Blaine shrugged. "Karofsky. The bullying. I know how hard it is, maybe talking will help." He replied, his voice still gentle as he picked up an apple slice.

Kurt stared at him for a long moment but Blaine, eating an apple, didn't notice. He actually wanted Kurt to talk to him about Karofsky? He cared? That was new. Okay, no, he knew his friends _cared_, but it wasn't like any of them had gone out of their way to make Kurt less unhappy because of it, or asked if he was okay, and didn't only mean physically.

Blaine eventually looked over when he didn't receive a response and saw Kurt staring. "What?"

Kurt shrugged. "Nothing. I just… appreciate your concern. It means a lot that you actually care."

"What are friends for?" Blaine chimed too enthusiastically, clearing trying to defuse some of the tension.

Kurt cocked his head at him. "You really want to be friends with me, don't you?"

"I think I've made that pretty clear from the beginning." Blaine responded vaguely.

"Well, I haven't exactly been _nice _to you." He said guiltily.

"Don't worry about it," Blaine said, grinning and patting Kurt's knee. "I don't make good first impressions so it was kind of expected." He explained with a wink. "But seriously, do you want to talk?"

"I don't think there's anything all that unique about it; he's homophobic, I'm gay, he's a football player, I'm in glee club…" he shrugged, looking at Blaine.

"What does he do?"

"Shoves me into lockers, throws drinks at me, calls me names," Kurt listed off. "Same stuff as everybody else, just a lot more frequently."

"Why?" Blaine asked. "I mean, you can't be the only gay kid in school."

Kurt laughed. "Well, I am. Apart from you, I'm the only openly gay kid there."

Blaine was quiet for a really long moment. "You should confront him." He said finally. Kurt snorted. "Kurt, I'm serious, you should stand up to him. You know what they say, you only have to do it once."

Kurt looked at Blaine for a long moment. Blaine had nice eyes. At first they looked brown, but they were so much more complex than that. The outsides of his irises were green, but from there they were yellows and golds and browns, deepening in color the closer to his pupils. He felt like he could look into his eyes all day.

He realized it'd been a while since either of them said anything, he was busy studying Blaine's eyes, Blaine might've been reciprocating, and he finally said, "I'll think about it."

"That's the spirit." Blaine responded, keeping his eyes on Kurt's, his voice lower than usual. After a few more tense seconds, Blaine cleared his throat and looked away from Kurt.

Once Kurt got home and deleted the school's message of his third and fourth block tardiness from his family's answering machine, he started on dinner for him and his dad. He enjoyed cooking dinner for the craft, but also for the peace of mind. He thought about Blaine's advice; standing up to Karofsky. He didn't want to get to the point where he had to leave McKinley, but it was easier said than done. He only agreed to do it, after school the next day, with Blaine's promise to wait for him outside for moral support.

He waited until Karofsky was alone in there, guaranteed by Blaine distracting him so he was late to change for football. When he was positive he was done changing, judging by the slammed locker, he went in.

Karofsky looked over when he heard the door, and sneered at Kurt. "What the hell do you want, fairy?"

Kurt took a deep breath through his nose. He could do this, Blaine was waiting out by his car, it was just him and Karofsky. When he took more than a second to respond, Karofsky slammed his fist into the locker. "I said, what do you want, faggot?"

That got Kurt angry. "I want to know," he said slowly and deliberately. "What your problem is."

"My problem?" he repeated. "My problem is fags like you coming in here to peek at my junk, that's my problem."

Kurt's face was reddening with rage. "Oh yeah, every straight boy's nightmare – us gays are all out to molest and convert you!" he snarled. "Well guess what, Ham Hock, you're _not _my type."

His type was not assholes who bully him, or bully his friends. His type was someone who had class, someone who wasn't a psychopath, someone who wasn't assaulting him in public.

"Oh yeah?" Karofsky challenged, moving to get in Kurt's face.

"Yeah. I don't dig on boys who sweat too much and are gonna be bald by the time they're thirty." He quipped, refusing to back down, refusing to be the victim like he always was.

"Shut up!" Karofsky roared, backing up and slamming a fist into the lockers.

"Are you gonna hit me?" Kurt asked, his voice deadly low. "Do it." He dared. "You can't punch the gay out of me anymore than I can punch the ignoramus out of you!"

"Get out of my face!"

"You are _nothing _but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are!"

And then it happened. Karofsky grabbed the sides of his head with big, sweaty hands, Kurt thought for a split second he was going to throw him into the lockers. But then he swooped down and kissed him, with chapped lips that made Kurt think he was going to puke.

Karofsky pulled back and stared at Kurt like he was trying to understand what he'd just done, before trying to press in again. Kurt shoved him back as hard as he could, his arms shaking, unable to stop feeling Karofsky's lips on his own. Karofsky had tears in his eyes and he kicked the locker and stormed out of the locker room, toward the football field.

Kurt couldn't move, paralyzed somewhere between shock and fear. He eventually found his footing well enough to leave, walking back out to the parking lot, his expression of horrified shock on his face.

Blaine was waiting for him, sitting on the hood of Kurt's car, but his bright expression dropped when he saw the look on Kurt's face. He climbed up onto the hood beside Blaine, and the second he felt Blaine's presence around him, he was crying.

Blaine tried to pry his hands off his face and asked frantically, "Oh my god, Kurt, what happened?"

Kurt couldn't answer for a while. But once he did, he told Blaine everything that transpired, barely able to get anything out over his sobs. Blaine hugged Kurt around the shoulders once he'd heard the crux of the story. Kurt curled into him, unable to see him because of how he'd buried his face, but appreciating his presence more than he would his words.

It took a while for him to stop crying, and he probably should've been embarrassed by how much he was crying, given that he was crying on his friend, who was a very new friend, and had to deal with Kurt sobbing.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry," Blaine said hushed once Kurt stopped crying, "I should've never told you to confront him –"

Kurt shook his head, silencing Blaine by pressing a finger onto his lips. "This isn't your fault." He promised him. "I would've snapped and said something to him eventually, it just happened sooner." Blaine didn't look comforted. "It's _not _your fault." He said firmly, staring him in the eye until Blaine eventually nodded.

Kurt turned away from him, sniffing loudly. "How pathetic is it that my first kiss with a boy was against my will?"

"Kurt…" Blaine murmured, "That wasn't a kiss. Like you said, it was against your will, that was _assault_. That definitely doesn't count. There's a really big difference between a kiss and sexual assault."

Kurt sniffed again, wiping underneath his eyes. "I guess I just don't know the difference yet."

Blaine was quiet for a moment. "Do you want to?" he asked tentatively. Kurt looked up at him. "I'm not – I'm not hitting on you, but if you want me to, I could show you the difference between what he did to you, and a kiss."

Kurt almost smiled at the gesture. "That's very sweet, but you don't have to do that."

"I owe you at least that much –"

"You don't owe my anything, because we agreed this is not your fault." Kurt cut him off briskly.

Blaine grew the smallest of grins. "Fine. I am one hundred percent a willing participant, not because I owe you or feel like I have to, but because I want to, especially if you want to."

Kurt looked at him for a few seconds before he mumbled, "I think I'd like that."

Blaine licked his lips nervously and asked, "What did he do, exactly, just so I can avoid doing the same things."

"Oh, he just um, grabbed my head and pulled me forward." He said meekly. "Honestly, I don't think repetition will be a problem."

"Okay," Blaine said. "Do you think you should initiate it? Just so it won't feel forced?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, I want you to, just so – I'll have a clearer comparison."

His ears and cheeks were pink, and he might've been embarrassed if someone other than Blaine saw it. Blaine just made him feel _safe_. Like, he just felt like he didn't need to be embarrassed around him.

He felt his heart speed up when Blaine leaned toward him, his head tilted just a pinch to the right. Their breaths mingled for the second their faces were close before Blaine pressed their lips together. His hand cupped Kurt's cheek, brushing over his ear just slightly. Kurt could feel his heart in his ears, and he was scared because he had no idea what he was doing, but Blaine led him through it, silently telling him how to move his lips what way.

_This _was how a kiss was supposed to feel. It was supposed to make him dizzy and make his heart all fluttery, and he definitely wasn't supposed to feel scared shitless.

Blaine pulled back around the time Kurt started to feel light headed. They gave themselves a moment to even out their breathing and the let their racing hearts slow down. Kurt was smiling a little. "Thank you,"

Blaine chuckled to himself. "Anytime," he breathed.

"No, I mean," he looked at Blaine importantly. "For this afternoon."

Blaine smiled and said again, "Anytime."


	3. We're Looking For Something Dumb To Do

The weeks after the day of the kiss, Kurt and Blaine became considerably closer. They walked together to and from first block, they saw each other at the end of the day, they'd even gone to Blaine's house again just to hang out. It was beautifully refreshing for Kurt, having a friend who didn't think they knew everything about him, and wanted to learn. He was glad he hadn't completely written Blaine off the first time they met, because he was actually a good friend; he brought Kurt out to coffee after school, he gave helpful advice, apart from that one drastic piece of advice.

And maybe, _maybe_ Kurt had a tiny crush on Blaine. He didn't mean for it to happen, but it just… happened. Blaine was just really charming in a way, and he paid Kurt attention whenever they were together, and Blaine was _talented._

Kurt had to look him up online to see if Blaine was lying about his secret past life thing, and about being in glee club, but he wasn't. His choir was impressive, very, but Blaine was good at conceivably, everything. He could sing and dance and play the piano, and after Kurt begging for days straight to hear him perform live, Blaine finally sang for him, playing an acoustic Katy Perry song that Kurt didn't even _like_ before Blaine performed it, but he was listening to it all the time now.

So yeah, being a musician made Blaine even more crush-worthy, add he was a really attractive male; that obviously that hadn't escaped Kurt's notice. It also didn't help that he was actually _gay_, and that put ideas into Kurt's head on its own.

It also didn't help, along with paying Kurt a bountiful amount of attention, he kept asking him out, almost incessantly, especially after their kiss. It probably would've annoyed the living crap out of Kurt had he not been very interested in Blaine.

"Or bowling, or maybe apple picking, or –" Blaine had spent the better part of twenty minutes of their daily coffee trip suggesting dates for them, until Kurt finally cut him off.

"If I say yes to a date, will you shut up?" he asked playfully.

Blaine laughed. "You should be so lucky." He said before growing somewhat more serious. "Just one date; if it sucks, no harm done. We can do something easy, like going to the mall."

Kurt pursed his lips and mulled it over. Pro, his first date. Con, going out in public with Blaine. Pro, going out on a Friday night with someone other than Rachel or Mercedes. Con, admitting the _wanted _to go on a date with Blaine.

"I'll make you a deal." He said. Blaine raised his eyebrows curiously. "I'll go on a date with you," Blaine grew a large grin, "but first, you have to come to my dad's wedding."

Blaine's eyes lit up. "That's even better! That's like two dates!"

"_But_," Kurt said, pointing at Blaine, poking his chest across the small table. "You have to behave. That means not being disruptive, being polite to _all _the other guests, no innuendos, and you have to wear a suit."

Blaine nodded quickly. "I can totally do all of that." He said, running the list through his head.

Kurt bit his lip to hide his grin and Blaine's eyes fell to his lips and he added quickly, "And another thing!" Blaine looked up at his eyes. "No flirting."

Blaine laughed outright and Kurt pressed a hand to his chest and said, "Blaine Anderson, I'm serious." Blaine recomposed himself. "We're going to be in front of all of my friends, all of my family, and all of my dad's friends, and Carole's family, and you _cannot_ be embarrassing."

"Kurt Hummel," Blaine said, holding his hand to his chest in mock offense. "How dare you suggest I'd _embarrass _you in front of all of your family and friends; I'd do no such thing!"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Sure you wouldn't," he said disbelievingly. "I'm serious, _no flirting._"

Blaine crossed his arms. "Fine, but we'll have to set some ground rules."

"Ground rules?" Kurt repeated skeptically, brushing up his hair with his fingers.

"Like this," he grabbed Kurt's hand. "This little hair styling thing, has gotta go."

"What's wrong with it?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"Hey, you said no flirting, so I'm telling you, no cute gestures." Kurt's jaw dropped. "I'm serious, Hummel. If I can't flirt, you can't tempt me."

"Fine, what else can't I do?" he asked.

"No licking, biting, or pursing your lips." Blaine said straight-off. "Those are all major deal breakers."

"Okay, no pet names. And, you're not allowed to compliment me." Kurt retorted.

"No compliments?" Blaine repeated. Kurt grinned and laughed at Blaine's ridiculous expression.

"There's another!" he exclaimed, Kurt's jaw fell in confusion. "Your little giggle thing, no. No way."

"I can't laugh?" Blaine shook his head firmly. "So I can't touch up my hair, I can't touchmy _lips_, and I can't laugh? That's ridiculous. _You're _ridiculous."

Blaine shrugged and held up his hands defensively. "You said no flirting, I'm just making it realistic."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Fine, deal." He said, sticking out his hand. Blaine shook his hand, a grin taking up his face.

"Now, let's get going," Blaine said, standing up with his coffee. "We have some studying to do for that history test tomorrow."

Kurt followed him out of the shop and they got into his car. They went to Blaine's house instead of Kurt's, because no one would be at Blaine's, and Kurt's dad would be at his house. And he wasn't sure he was ready for his dad and Blaine to meet quite yet. They went up to Blaine's room with their bags and sprawled their accumulative notes over the expanse of Blaine's bizarrely large bed, but not until Blaine (quite excitedly) showed Kurt a piece of crap car in his garage, probably not worth how much repairs would cost. But he just smiled, unable to derail Blaine's glee. Afterward, in his room, Blaine studied lying on his stomach, reading out of his textbook and their notes, but Kurt didn't. He sat up against the headboard, stared at Blaine's ass a little, and took out his wedding planning notebook.

Everything was already done and ordered and organized, given that the wedding was on Saturday, but he liked flicking through the laminated pages to make sure he felt confident in how the service would be going down. And when Saturday came, he did feel confident in everything, because nothing had gone wrong; the flowers were fresh and colorful, they brightened up the chapel just how he thought they would, everyone's dresses and suits were sharp and matched perfectly, and Carole looked _gorgeous_.

He walked out of the back room of the chapel where the glee club kids were all getting dressed and ready, feeling like incredibly relieved that everything was turning out well, but he was also starting to bubble over in his excitement. It was getting way too crowded, and he didn't have to be in a private room to tie his tie.

"Hey, stranger," Blaine's smooth voice came from behind him.

Kurt turned around and smiled at him before appraising his suit, a very cute, dark burgundy number with a plain black tie. "I love your suit." He said, looking it up and down. "It's a great color on you."

Blaine grinned and said, "Thank you very much." He stepped closer to Kurt. "Now, can we forget about our deal for just one minute?"

Kurt smirked and said, "Alright, one minute."

"You look great, sweetheart," he said with a grin. "Really great."

Kurt smiled. "Well, thank you," he said, licking his lips.

"I hope you're enjoying that." Blaine said. "Because in thirty seconds, those lips with have no tongues, and no teeth on them at _all_. So soak it up, Hummel, get your fill now."

Kurt laughed and Blaine said, "Laughing too, I guess." He grabbed both ends of Kurt's tie and pulled him a step forward.

"What are you-"

"I'm tying your tie, shut up." He said.

Kurt snorted. "Am I incapable of doing it myself?" Blaine just told him to shut up again.

**?!**

The wedding was beautiful. Blaine sat next to one of Kurt's relatives he didn't talk to as he watched. The glee cub sang Carole down the aisle which was bizarre, and easily classified as unorthodox, but he liked it. Carole looked like she was enjoying herself anyways.

Kurt looked at him several times throughout the service, sending Blaine coy little smiles from his spot by his dad during the reading of vows, which were thankfully short, sweet. For the first dance, about a hundred relatives plus the hired camera men jumped up with cameras, and instead of an open dance floor and everything, Finn took the mic next and dedicated the song to _Kurt._

It was a very sweet gesture, and Blaine laughed at Kurt's immediate blush and watched. The glee club sang a Bruno Mars song that Blaine enjoyed and he watched with a large grin.

After, it was announced that the food was up and ready to be served, and they were moved away from the pews and to the round, clothed tables where wait staff were waiting with steamy food. They didn't play a DJ or anything, various members of the glee club went up to sing, and the first was Mr. Schue. It was a little unsettling.

Kurt made his way over to Blaine and got to him with a grin. "Hi," he greeted him. Blaine returned it. "How'd you like the wedding?"

Blaine chuckled. "It was very nice, I liked the performances."

Kurt ignored the rules for a minute and let Blaine compliment him a little on how well he did with this wedding, before he asked, "Do you want to meet my parents?"

Blaine's eyes widened but he was still grinning. "Do you _want _me to meet your parents?"

Kurt bit his lip, once again ignoring the rules. "I'd like that."

"Well let's go." Blaine snatched his hand, lacing their fingers together and finding narrow paths between guests to pull them through. Kurt took the lead to actually approach the newlyweds as one of their friends finished talking to them.

"Dad, Carole, this is my friend, Blaine." Kurt said, dropping his hand. He was really glad Blaine was meeting his dad here opposed to a casual setting, because Blaine had opted out of his usual jacket and jeans and worn a quite nice outfit. The only questionable factor was his earrings.

His dad appraised Blaine quickly, not giving him as much notice as Kurt expected, just shaking his hand. That was probably just the excitement from the wedding and everything. Blaine introduced himself to Carole just as quickly, but after he turned his back to her, Carole looked at Kurt and mouthed, "cute" at him.

Kurt blushed and snagged Blaine's hand again, pulling him away from the bride and groom and over to a table. He let go of his hand as he sat down, but Blaine didn't sit with him.

"I'm gonna go grab us some food." He said, giving Kurt a quick smile and disappearing towards the buffet table. That's when Quinn sat down across from him.

"Hi, Kurt." She said with a bright smile. "I still need to say congratulations to your dad and your stepmom."

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, but they're so excited, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't notice whether or not you did." He said, peering over at them.

She nodded. "You pulled this wedding together really nicely, everything about it turned out great."

Sam sat down beside her with a plate of food and added, "Totally, and the food tastes awesome."

"Thanks, guys." Kurt said, nodding his hello at Sam, who portioned off half of his plate to Quinn.

Quinn opened her mouth to say something, but got distracted by Blaine's sudden reappearance. He sat down next to Kurt and slid a plate of food over to him with a smile.

"Hi, Quinn, Sam." He said, and easy smile still playing on his lips.

Quinn smiled at him and shot a look at Kurt that he could best describe as somewhere between confusion and amusement. Sam seemed excited by Blaine's presence.

"Hey, man," he said, pulling Blaine into a quick sort of handshake. "I didn't know I'd be seeing you here."

"Yeah, it was sort of last minute." Blaine explained, picking things off of his plate.

"Have you guys had a chance to talk to the newlyweds yet?" Quinn asked them after coming over her shock, sipping a glass of water, the only sign of her confusion was her eyes flickering between the two boys across from her.

"Only for a minute or so; they're pretty busy." Kurt said.

Sam looked at Blaine with a grin. "What'd they think of you, man?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't think they really noticed me. They're pretty distracted."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, and it doesn't help that you're not dressed so scary today." He added.

Blaine smirked. "You think I dress scary?"

"A little," Sam confessed. "Not like, Darth Maul scary, but sorta like Han Solo. Ya know, you're not really dressed scary, but you're dressed kinda badass, and your attitude makes it scary."

Blaine laughed. "Okay, I could do worse than Han Solo. But you gotta be C3PO."

Sam's expression dropped. "C'mon, dude, I gave you the coolest guy in the series, you gave me the lamest!"

"No," Blaine said, leaning on the table. "I could've given you Jar Jar Binks."

Kurt rolled his eyes at Quinn as the two boys got into an argument over Star Wars. Quinn shrugged like she was used to it, but if she was dating Sam, she must have been.

"So who's Kurt?" Sam asked, nodding to the other boy.

"Chewbacca!" Blaine said excitedly. Sam laughed and Blaine turned to Kurt. "You can be my furry side kick."

Kurt snorted. "If anyone's furry, it's you." He said, brushing over Blaine's cheek.

Blaine thumbed over his jaw haughtily. "I'm clean shaven,"

Kurt snorted. "Yeah, for once."

"Kurt's not Chewy," Sam said, his arm thrown casually behind Quinn's shoulders. "He's more Princess Leia, don't you think?"

"Ha ha," Blaine said dryly. "He should be so lucky."

Kurt scoffed, "I'd be the lucky one?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. He realized in the back of his mind, for people trying to hide their friendship, they were flirting. A lot. Kurt was smiling just a little too much, and Blaine was laughing at his jokes just a little too much, and they were making physical contact a little too much, and making eyecontact _way _too much.

Quinn looked between them. "So are guys together, or…?" And there it was.

Kurt shook his head and Blaine laughed. "No, weren't not, _thank god_." He said, rolling his eyes playfully.

Kurt shot him a hard look, and Blaine put his hand on Kurt's thigh and said, "I'm kidding." He turned to Quinn without taking his hand off of Kurt. "Seriously though, no; Kurt's way out of my league."

Kurt nodded in agreement and Blaine laughed, and as a new upbeat song came on and Brittany and Santana took the stage, Sam turned to Quinn and asked, "Want to dance?"

Quinn nodded and stood up, gesturing at Kurt to join them. "Want to?" he asked Blaine as Sam pulled Quinn onto the dance floor.

"Of course!" Blaine said with a big, goofy grin. He stood up and they followed Quinn to the center of the floor, easily falling into the mix. There were mostly adults Kurt didn't know, or know very well around them, except for Mike and Tina, who were dancing to the Avril Lavine song and singing along to the lyrics.

They danced together a lot. They mingled with some people and swapped dancing partners a few times with Mike and Tina during some songs, but for the most part, they just goofed off together. And it was really fun. Blaine made him laugh and smile so much Kurt's face started to ache, and even when they drifted apart during the reception to dance with other people or get drinks, they had a habit of making it back to each other by the time the next song started.

A while later, Mr. Schue stepped up to the mic again and Blaine almost groaned at the thought of another smooth jazz number performed by him when he said, "As we near the end of our celebration, I'd just like to announce that it's now open mic."

Kurt rolled his eyes to Blaine. "Great, now all the talent-less forty year olds in the room can serenade us with the best of the 70's."

"Um, watch your mouth, Kurt Hummel." Kurt raised his eyebrows. "The Beatles, Roxy music, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac are children of the 70s."

"The Beatles are the 60s-"

"Need I remind you that Let It Be came out in 1970? But that's beside the point," he said as Kurt began to protest further. "You should perform."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm serious," Blaine said as Mercedes took the stage. "You haven't sung all night, and this whole wedding is your doing. It'll be doing everyone here an injustice."

"Why don't _you _sing everyone a song? I'm sure everyone would love that a lot more." He returned with a smirk.

"Because you're the talented one in this dynamic," Blaine returned quickly.

"Liar," Kurt said in a sing-song voice, "I've heard you perform. Remember? You were so good, you even got me to like a Katy Perry song."

"Well to make it fair, you perform, because I've never heard you. It's only fair."

"See, you're lying again!" Kurt said with a laugh. "I know that was you, the day we performed the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the auditorium, someone else was in there, and I know it was you."

"You have no proof." Blaine said simply, a shit-eating grin taking up his face.

"Your denial is the only proof I need." Kurt said.

Blaine rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "C'mon, let's go dance, Mercedes' super sad song is almost over."

Kurt took his hand and stood up, but said, "Sing me a song."

Blaine thought for a moment, weighing his options in his head before he said, "Okay, I'll sing for you," Kurt grinned widely. "_If_ you sing with me."

Kurt's smile fell and Blaine laughed. "C'mon, _you're _the singer. Just one little duet, that's all."

A smile wormed its way onto Kurt's face and he eventually said, "Fine. But I pick the song."

"Deal." Blaine followed Kurt up to the stage with a triumphant grin. Kurt went to the band and told started talking to them. He walked to the front of the stage with a second microphone and stand as the music started.

Blaine shot Kurt a panicked look and Kurt said, "Don't worry, you'll know it." He assured him before taking the first verse.

_I was alone, I took a ride_

_I didn't know what I would find there_

_Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there_

Blaine grinned when he recognized the song and adjusted the microphone to his height. Leave it to Kurt to pick the cheesiest Beatles' song _ever_.

**Ooh, then I suddenly see you**

**Ooh, did I tell you I need you**

**Every single day of my life**

People were dancing again but Blaine wasn't paying any attention to them. He knew some of them were dancing, some were watching them, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Kurt, dancing around and shooting Blaine flirtatious smiles. At least, he _thought_ they were flirtatious, but Blaine wasalways one for wishful thinking.

_You didn't run, you didn't lie  
You know I wanted just to hold you  
And had you gone, you knew in time  
We'd meet again for I had told you_

Kurt took his mic off the stand and stepped closer to Blaine, interacting with him less robotically, and dancing around him, tangling Blaine's feet in his wires. Blaine separated his own microphone and mirrored Kurt's movements

_**Ooh! You were meant to be near me  
Ooh! And I want you to hear me**_  
_**Say we'll be together every day  
Got to get you into my life**_

They sang in each other's faces, both of them grinning widely. Blaine knew they were flirting and that he was breaking the rules, but Kurt had been breaking his rules all day, what with the laughing and his own flirting. So yeah, he shamelessly flirted with Kurt on stage, so what? Probably no one was paying attention to them. All the guests were dancing with their significant others to the peppy song. He took a dramatic step forward and a deep breath as he started the next verse._**  
**_  
**What can I do, what can I be?  
When I'm with you I want to stay there  
If I'm true I'll never leave  
And if I do I know the way there**

Huh. For an impromptu performance, these lyrics were really pretty close to his own feelings. He kind of had a feeling Kurt would be amazing performing, and he'd seen him as Riff Raff for a minute or so, but imagining something and seeing it for himself were two very different things. And seeing Kurt really perform was kind of amazing, because he hadn't even come close to grasping just how talented Kurt was.

_**Ooh! Then I suddenly see you  
Ooh! Did I tell you I need you?  
Every single day of my life  
Got to get you into my life**_

They danced around each other playfully, interacting freely. This was so much better than performing alone, or listening to someone else. Blaine followed Kurt around as he ran all over the stage

_And suddenly I see you_

**Did I tell you I need you?**

_**I got to get you into my life**_

Blaine grinned at Kurt's laugh once they'd finished. There was a decent amount of applause, but Blaine didn't pay it much attention, he just followed Kurt off the stage and back onto the dance floor. Some old guy he didn't know patted him on the back with a grin, and Blaine's eyes widened.

They made it to their table in the back, snagging a water bottle on the way. He barely managed to take a swig before Kurt took it from him and started drinking himself. Blaine just shook his head at him. "And you tell me I'm the flirty one."

Kurt gave back to bottle. "You are." He said with a cheeky grin. "There's only about ten more scheduled minutes to this ceremony, so I hope you enjoyed yourself."

"Oh I did," Blaine said cheekily, "it didn't help that I was constantly reminding myself that you promised me a date after this."

Kurt laughed and said, "Glad to know you're excited. I'm going to run to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

"Okay," Blaine murmured as Kurt went into the hallway. He sat down and took a drink of his water as someone walked over.

"Hi, Blaine," he looked up and saw Mr. Schue standing near him, his hands in his pockets. "I'm Mr. Schuester, I'm the Spanish teacher at McKinley."

Blaine nodded. "And the glee guy." He added. Kurt had told him enough stories to have a pretty good idea who this guy was.

He nodded eagerly. "That's right! I actually wanted to talk to you about joining." He said, bugging his eyes out in a way that was probably to show how excited he was, but it kind of just made him look _more_ like a pedophile. "You know, we're short a few members for our upcoming competition, and you have a great voice, and stage presence, and it seems like you know a few kids who are in it already. We'd really love to have you."

"I'm sorry," Blaine said, standing up. "But I'm just too busy right now for an extracurricular." He gave Mr. Schuester what was an attempt at an apologetic smile before backing out into the hallway.

He turned around and walked into someone, immediately launching into a string of apologies before he came face to face with Kurt. "Oh, it's you, never mind, I'm not sorry."

"Wow," Kurt laughed. "Okay, hello to you too." He peeked around them, glancing up and down the empty hallway. "What are you doing out here?"

"Getting away from Mr. Schuester." He said, getting a questioning look from Kurt. "He wants me to join the glee club."

"You should," Kurt said. "It'd be fun, and you're talented."

"Well, that'll cost a few more dates." He said, grinning when Kurt laughed. "And who knows, by then we could already be at third base."

Kurt's jaw dropped and his face turned red. He smacked Blaine on the arm. "You're such an ass!" he exclaimed.

Blaine chuckled as slow piano music started filtering through the open doors. "Dance with me," he said, holding out his hands. "This is probably the last song of the night."

Kurt gave him a long look before taking his hands and leading him into position, holding one hand on Blaine's waist and lacing their fingers together. Blaine copied his position as the lyrics started pouring in, but he hardly noticed. Their faces were close together, and it was one of the first times he'd ever really noticed the height difference between them. It wasn't huge, but enough that he had to look up just slightly to meet Kurt's eyes. He'd have to look up just slightly to kiss him too.

_Shut up, Blaine,_ he thought to himself. No kissing Kurt, he's not actually interested, that other time was a fluke and purely for educational purposes. Although, if he wasn't interested, why would he agree to Blaine's stupid date, or invite him to the wedding, or sing that song with him, or be slow dancing with him right now?

He couldn't help himself but to ask, "Do you really want to go on a date with me?" it sounded weird, asking out loud, given _what _he said, but also that it was the first thing they'd said since they started dancing. "Because you don't have to, if you don't want to."

Kurt smiled softly and murmured, "I want to."

Blaine tried unsuccessfully to hide his smile let go of Kurt's hand, instead wrapping his arms around his waist. Kurt pulled him a little closer and wrapped his arms around his neck as Blaine ducked his head to graze his nose over Kurt's neck.

Blaine was right, that was the last song of the night, and he decided to bow out immediately after to beat the traffic out of there, leaving with his coat tucked under his arm and the wet imprint of his lips on Kurt's cheek. Kurt was still blushing a little when he walked back into reception. Everyone was packing up and saying goodbye, all except for his friends, sitting at a table together.

"Where've you been, Hummel?" Santana asked. "Brit wanted to dance with you for the last song."

"Oh, I was just-" he gestured vaguely toward the entrance, his cheeks flushing. Santana squinted at him suspiciously, but before she could say anything, his dad and Carole walked over to them, both of them grinning widely, their hands clasped together.

"Okay, we've got a flight to catch," he said as Kurt looked up at him. "We'll be back in a week, okay kid?"

He stood up and pulled his dad into a hug before hugging Carole as well. Finn did the same, and they left quickly, their cab waiting for them outside with their luggage, leaving the teenagers alone at the table.

"Kurt," Mike pulled him aside when everyone started their own conversations. "You're friends with Blaine, huh?"

"Uh, yeah. He told me you are too?"

Mike nodded with a grin. "Yeah, we're friends. Tina and I saw you guys dancing – during that last song." Kurt blushed a little and Mike laughed. "Don't worry, that's your business." He promised. "Besides, Blaine would kill me if I told someone like Santana anything about you guys."

Kurt laughed and was grateful for Mike. One reason, because he liked the thought of Blaine having friends who weren't replicas of Puckerman, and he liked that some of their friends didn't feed off of drama. Plus, he knew Tina was probably itching to tell Mercedes, which she still might, but he was glad Mike at least knew that it wasn't their information to pass around.

They left once the wait staff politely asked them to leave so they could clean up. Kurt had Finn drive them home, texting Blaine in the passenger seat. Finn was rambling about some party he wanted to throw in their new, shared house while their parents weren't home, but he didn't pay him much attention. There was a very large possibility that Finn wouldn't go through with the party at all, and even if he did, Kurt wouldn't stick around the house for it anyways.

"So how come Blaine was there?" he asked at one point.

"Oh," Kurt said, flicking his eyes over at Finn. "I uh – we're – it's kind of – we're friends." He decided, blushing.

Finn nodded slowly, stopping at a light and looking at Kurt. "He's kind of… dangerous, isn't he?"

Kurt shrugged. Blaine had a lot of rumors circling about him, but Kurt ignored them all consistently. Half of them probably didn't have a spec of truth, and honestly, if they were true, he didn't care, because that was a version of Blaine he didn't know. _His _version of Blaine was crush-worthy, and a good dancer, and very sweet. He preferred his version, so the other version didn't matter to him. "Not around me, he isn't." he answered Finn as they pulled into their driveway.

"I think you should stay away from him." Finn advised him, looking at Kurt seriously. "He has a reputation."

It was a little unfair for Finn to give that argument, given that both of his on/off girlfriends had reputations of their own, but he was just trying to look out for Kurt, so he didn't say that. "It's okay," he assured. "He's not as bad as everyone – including him – thinks he is."


	4. Magic in the Making

**Hey guys, I realized I didn't note a disclaimer, so here goes: I do not own Glee, nor am I an affiliate to FOX or the actors involved. For the future, and for references to books/music/movies, assume I own nothing.**

**?!**

As they'd planned a few days previous, Kurt and Blaine met just outside the movie theater at 4:15 on the dot. It was getting too late in the year to not wear anything on top of a sweater, and Kurt was definitely wishing he'd worn a something besides a decorative scarf, waiting outside the doors. His dad had just left, after Kurt assured him Blaine was a licensed driver and capable of bringing him home, when Blaine's motorcycle pulled up. He pulled off his helmet and winked at Kurt as he stored his helmet in the back and joined him on the curb.

"I thought you were bringing me home after this." Kurt said by way of hello.

Blaine looked equally as confused. "I am."

Kurt's eyes flicked over to the parked bike. "On that?"

Blaine followed his eyes and laughed out loud when he saw what the confusion was about.

He walked towards the theater door and didn't answer, sliding his arm around Kurt's waist, and pulling him along. They walked up the empty ticket line to buy their tickets.

"Two for _Love, Actually _please?" Blaine said, pulling out his wallet and sliding over the money for both tickets before Kurt could even get his wallet out of his pocket.

They were handed their tickets and had their stubs ripped before Kurt said, "It's a little early in the season for a Christmas movie, don't you think?"

Blaine shook his head. "It's never too early in the season for _Love, Actually_."

"You didn't have to pay for my ticket." Kurt pointed out.

"Of course I did." Blaine said nonchalantly. "I asked you out, therefore, I pay."

"Well since you paid for admission, I'll buy popcorn." He said, stepping out of Blaine's hold and towards the line.

But Blaine grabbed his hand and instead pulled him to their theater. "We're not eating here."

"What? Since when do you not love indulging yourself in things you're not paying for?" Kurt inquired as they found the theater playing old Christmas movies.

"Oh, I'll indulge in _something_ of yours, but let's have dinner first."

Kurt's cheeks blushed bright red and he pretended he didn't hear all of Blaine's previous statement.

"What dinner? We didn't agree on dinner."

Blaine shot him a quizzical look. "I didn't tell you?" He asked as he ushered Kurt into the very back row of the otherwise empty theater. "I'm taking you to dinner after the movie."

"After - taking me to - dinner - I never agreed to that!" Kurt stumbled out.

"Sure you did," Blaine said easily. "First time we met. I offered a complimentary blow job, and you told me to buy you dinner first. So I am."

Kurt was first astonished, and a little touched Blaine remembered that from so long ago, but a little disgusted Blaine remembered that from so long ago.

He was snapped back into reality when Blaine said, "Unless you'd rather have it first. The blow job, that is."

Kurt blushed to the roots of his hair. "Blaine Anderson! I am not letting you go down on me in the middle of a movie theater!"

"Okay first of all, we're in the back, not the middle," Kurt shot him a dirty look. "And second, there's no one else in here." Blaine reasoned, glancing around at all the empty seats surrounding them.

Just then, the lights dimmed. Blaine moved closer to Kurt and said, "See? It's the universe giving us a hint."

Kurt snorted. "No, it's the theater telling us the movie's starting."

Blaine pulled that stupid, adorable, mostly stupid pout. "Please, Kurt?" He pleaded. "Just one blow job? You won't even have to do anything, I'll do all the work."

Kurt's cheeks flushed. "I don't - I haven't even -" he stumbled over his words again, feeling exponentially stupid.

Blaine's eyes widened, the ignored previews lighting up his face. "You've never been blown?" He asked too loudly.

Kurt smacked his arm and shushed him, but Blaine shrugged it off. "Babe, relax, we're the only ones in here." He reminded him before getting back to the point. "No wonder you're not begging for one; you've never experienced it!"

Blaine's playful tone grew more needy. "Please let me blow you, Kurt," he said lowly. "Honestly, you'll love it, I'm really good at giving head."

Kurt was speechless. Blaine was begging to give him a blow job. As if the day couldn't get any weirder. But he would be lying if he said the idea didn't intrigue him. And god knows when he'd meet a gay guy who had any interest in him again. Kurt wasn't even aware of his own actions as he slowly nodded to Blaine.

Blaine slid out of his seat and crawled onto the floor in front of Kurt, sliding his hands up Kurt's legs until he reached his belt buckle.

"Don't people usually just lean over the seat in a movie theater?" Kurt asked, his face already flushed.

Blaine kneeled so his face was almost up to Kurt's, his fingers still working on the belt. "Not for your first time, babe."

Blaine surprised him by instead of going back down to the floor, climbing onto Kurt's seat and straddling his lap.

"What in god's name are you doing?" Kurt asked in a sharp whisper.

"I want to get you hard first." Blaine whispered in return before he started sucking on Kurt's neck.

Kurt's breath hitched as Blaine's started licking and kissing all over his neck and jaw line. For all the slobbering he did on Kurt's face, he wasn't going near Kurt's lips. His hands roughly untucked Kurt's shirt and slid around his back, lifting the fabric as high as he could without actually taking Kurt's shirt off.

Once Blaine felt the growing bulge in Kurt's jeans did he finally stop and after letting out a triumphant laugh, go back on the floor.

He unbuttoned Kurt's jeans, and smiled up at Kurt, looking at him from underneath his eyelashes as he slowly started stroking Kurt's cock.

Kurt swallowed heavily and tried to prepare himself as Blaine took his cock in his mouth. It was an incredibly weird sensation. Blaine's mouth wasn't doing anything, but it was warm, and wet, and he could feel his hot tongue sliding around the underside of his cock, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it until Blaine started sucking.

Kurt's breath was lost in a dissipated way, and he glanced down at Blaine's head bobbing up and down. He'd never understood blow jobs before, but he was starting to. He wasn't sure of his position on giving them, but they felt very, very nice and oh god-

Kurt could feel something hot filling up his stomach, and he knew what was going to happen if Blaine didn't immediately stop.

"Blaine I'm gonna - if you don't -" he tried to mumble out.

Blaine just took him deeper in his throat and Kurt's head fell back and he moaned a disgustingly loud moan for a movie theater blowjob, as the muscles in his stomach uncoiled and he came into Blaine's mouth.

Blaine swallowed all of it, and lingered for only a moment before coming off of Kurt's cock with a proud grin on his face. Kurt zipped up his jeans and resituated himself as Blaine climbed back into his own seat.

It wasn't until then he noticed the movie had already started. He turned to Blaine, who was already looking at him with a smug little smirk on his face.

"How do you feel?" Blaine prompted.

Kurt took a moment to answer. "Tired."

Blaine laughed loudly and threw his arm around Kurt's shoulders. "That's normal. Just enjoy the movie, okay, babe?"

Kurt laid his head on Blaine and nodded, his arms going around Blaine's waist, his eyelids drooping.

He doesn't remember falling asleep. But he woke up, his legs curled up, his face buried in Blaine's jacket. He peeked up and saw Blaine quoting the movie as it played, unaware of Kurt's current awakeness.

Maybe it was his current drowsiness, or the minimal lighting, but Blaine looked gorgeous in that moment. The screen was lighting up his face, his eyes looked even larger than usual, and his curls were falling onto his forehead in the most adorable way, his full lips moving along with the cheesy words.

The corners of Kurt's mouth turned upward, and Blaine must've felt it, because he almost immediately glanced down at Kurt.

"Sleeping Beauty's finally awake." He said idly.

Kurt just smiled. "You've seen this movie a lot?" He asked. "You were quoting it."

Blaine's cheeks darkened, and Kurt's curiosity grew. "Sort of." He admitted.

Kurt giggled and Blaine stuck his tongue out at him. "You're a brat," he told him.

Kurt laughed again. "You're cute."

"Wow, you must be really tired," Blaine pointed out with a grin. "Maybe I should get you home."

"Nope," Kurt retorted. "You promised me dinner."

Blaine laughed. "That's true. I _guess_ I'll take you out to dinner first." He teased, sounding as if it were the most tedious thing in the world to be doing.

Kurt pressed a kiss onto Blaine's jaw line and turned his head back to the scene changed. There was only about 45 minutes left of the movie, but Kurt had seen it so many times he understood what was happening.

By the time they got out of the movie, Kurt was fully awake again, and so hungry his stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself, so he didn't pretend to put up an argument over going to dinner.

Blaine gave Kurt what must've been a riding jacket, not that Kurt was all that familiar with them. It was too big on him, and smelled very strongly of gasoline, but also of Blaine, but it was colder than he was going into the movie, so he put it on without complaint.

It was only once he was handed a helmet were they faced with a problem.

"That's going to ruin my hair."

"Seriously?"

Kurt turned to Blaine and bugged his eyes out emphatically. "Yes. Do you know how much effort I put into my hair in the morning?"

Blaine took the helmet from Kurt's hands and said, "You have to wear a helmet. Or you could actually die."

Kurt didn't really know why he was putting up a fight. There was no way in hell he'd go on a motorcycle without a helmet (not that he wanted to go on a motorcycle at all), and he knew Blaine was being responsible and sensible, he just kind of liked seeing Blaine get frustrated. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his jaw clenched, his eyebrows furrowed.

He put on the helmet with some coaxing from Blaine, and Blaine got on the bike. Kurt hesitantly got on behind him but kept a few centimeters between them.

Blaine snorted and turned his head toward Kurt. "You're gonna have to hold on."

He wrapped his arms around Blaine's torso and holding him a little too tight as Blaine started the bike and kicked them off toward the road.

Kurt laid his head on Blaine's back the whole ride and watched the buildings and cars fly by. He was actually okay with riding a motorcycle if he stopped thinking about what he was doing.

Blaine pulled them into some little Vietnamese place in west Lima Kurt had never been to, but Kurt didn't let go of him immediately.

"Kurt," Blaine's gentle voice murmured over his shoulder. "You're gonna have to let go of me if you want to eat."

Kurt blushed and slid his arms off of him and let Blaine get off the bike first.

Kurt started toward the door, and Blaine followed him, walking in and ordering their table. It took no time at all for them to be seated, since the restaurant was mostly empty.

He was nervous. This was like a first date, well, it _was _their first date. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking at least a little when he was handed his menu and read it a couple times, it only had a dozen options, and he looked up at Blaine sort of helplessly.

"I've never had Vietnamese food before." He said blandly.

Blaine smirked and asked, "Need help ordering?"

Kurt nodded and Blaine laughed under his breath and Kurt kicked him under the table. He grinned up at him and shrugged defensively, and laid his menu flat and showed it to Kurt. He pointed to the third thing on the menu. "Spring rolls, you'd probably like. They're just veggies wrapped in rice paper. If not, I'd go with classic stir fry."

Kurt nodded slowly and their waitress came over. She greeted them quickly.

"What do you want to drink?" Blaine asked Kurt quietly as their waitress rambled something they couldn't understand.

"Water's fine,"

Blaine ordered for them, and nodded when the waitress prompted, "Miso soup?"

"What would you like?" Blaine asked Kurt.

"Stir fry," Kurt answered, but it sounded more like a question.

Blaine ordered for him again, getting spring rolls himself, and their waitress departed. Blaine smiled softly at Kurt for a moment before he said, "So you've never eaten Vietnamese."

Kurt shook his head. "Nope. The only 'diverse' food I eat is French cuisine."

"French." Blaine repeated. "Do you cook?"

Kurt nodded. "Sometimes. Mostly desserts though." He gazed around at the high ceilings of the restaurant and asked, "So do you come here often?"

Blaine snorted loudly and laughed into the table, laying his forehead down on it. "That's the most cliché pickup line ever."

Kurt blushed and said, "No, no, not like that. Honest question."

Blaine just laughed. "I'm sure that's what you mean. You're just trying to steal my virtue."

"Well that implies you have any kind of virtuous quality about you." Kurt retorted.

Blaine's jaw dropped but he was still laughing. He didn't have time to respond before their waitress came back over with their waters and soups.

Kurt glanced down at his tiny bowl and asked, "What is this?"

"Miso soup. It's good, you'll like it." Blaine explained, unwrapping his silverware from their napkin and grabbing his spoon. "This place gives it out as a sort of appetizer."

Kurt scooped a spoonful and eyed the brown liquid warily before sipping it. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but this was a lot better. On the saltier side though.

They sipped their silence in relative silence for a while, sneaking shy glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. When their food came out, Kurt realized he didn't have a fork. Just chopsticks and a spoon.

Blaine noticed the distressed look on his face. "Don't know how to use chopsticks?" Kurt shook his head. "It should be easy for you, you're handy with your fingers."

Blaine slid over to Kurt's side of the booth and took the chopsticks sitting beside him. He handed one to Kurt, "Hold this one how you'd hold a pencil," he instructed, placing the other between two fingers and directing him which fingers to hold it with.

Blaine went back to his seat and Kurt dug into his bowl, and ate the steaming food, which was chicken, rice, and a lot of vegetables.

"How is it?" Blaine asked, using his chopsticks without needing to think about what he was doing.

Kurt shrugged. "It's alright. How's yours?"

Blaine smirked. "It's one of my favorite things on the menu." He picked up a spring roll and held it out to Kurt. "Try it."

Kurt took a bite off the end and hummed happily. "That's good," he commented.

Blaine pushed his plate over to Kurt and grabbed his stir fry. "Let's trade."

Kurt pushed the plate towards Blaine and said, "No, you don't have to do that."

Blaine pushed it back. "You like that one better, so eat it. I like both, so I am happy with either."

Kurt didn't protest, knowing Blaine would never let him win. They just enjoyed dinner together and it was… wonderful. Everything about it was wonderful. Even though he felt like he had no idea what he doing most of the time. The way the kitchen nearby made them comfortably warm, and the minimal lighting kept up a mysterious atmosphere, and the food, and Blaine, was all perfect. Even more perfect, because he didn't expect it to be. He was crushing on Blaine and all, but it seemed like he just wouldn't be good in a real date situation, but he was.

The compliments were all sweet but not overdone, he laughed at Kurt's jokes but didn't force it, he fed Kurt bites of his food across the table, and he played footsie with him under the table and held his hands over it… So yeah, by the end of the night, he was definitely crushing on Blaine more than before.

When they walked out of the restaurant and to Blaine's motorcycle hand in hand, Kurt couldn't remember the last time he'd been that happy. He wanted to skip. They got over to the bike and Blaine pulled on his helmet, but Kurt grabbed his hands.

"Wait," he said. He pulled Blaine's helmet off of his head and continued the path his hands were on to wrap them around Blaine's neck. Blaine caught up with his mood, but let Kurt control things.

_Breath, Kurt. Just relax._ For once, he listened to his inner monologue and stopped thinking. And he slowly, slowly leaned forward with his head tilted and kissed Blaine's lips softly.

He was kissing a boy. He, Kurt Hummel, was kissing a boy. A really, really cute boy. And it wasn't to counteract an awful experience, it was because they _wanted_ to kiss each other. Blaine captured his lips in a few more tentative kisses before pulling back and murmured, "I really like kissing you."

Kurt giggled. "I really like kissing you too."

Blaine smiled at him and held him around the waist. Kurt tightened his hold around Blaine's neck and leaned forward, pressing their lips together again. His nerves had melted away, because he was tired of being nervous. He'd been nervous the whole dinner, and part of the movie too. But now, he was being kissed dizzyingly by a boy he'd been thinking about kissing again since their first brief kiss.

Blaine pulled back with a forlorn expression and blurted out, "I really wish he never kissed you."

He was still thinking about Karofsky. "Hey, hey," Kurt said, gripping the back of Blaine's neck and looking at him importantly. "We agreed that wasn't your fault, remember?"

He nodded slowly and looked away from Kurt. "I know, I just –" he sighed. Kurt made Blaine look him in the eye again before he answered, "I just wish it hadn't happened. I wish he hadn't been your first."

"Me too," Kurt said honestly. "But now there's nothing to do but move on. Besides, it's a lot more fun to kiss you than think about kissing him." Blaine grew the ghost of a smile. "Okay?"

Blaine nodded and said, "Okay."

Kurt smiled and didn't have to say anything else. He leaned forward and kissed Blaine deeper, letting him hold him tighter.

**?!**

It didn't take long for them to get back to Kurt's. Blaine cut the engine to his bike and got off with Kurt. Kurt held out his helmet to him.

"Keep it," Blaine said. "You're the only person who's ridden with me before."

Kurt's eyes widened as he held the helmet between his hands. "Really?" He asked.

Blaine nodded. Kurt hugged the helmet to his chest and started toward the front door with Blaine by his side. They stopped once they reached the door, and the censor light turned on.

"Thanks for taking me out. It was fun." Kurt said with a smile.

Blaine grinned. "My pleasure. It's not every day a beautiful boy agrees to go on a date with me."

Kurt's cheeks warmed up, and he shyly flicked his eyes to the ground and back at Blaine. "So this was a real date for you?"

The question seemed to amuse Blaine, and he grew a broad grin. "Of course it was." He said as if it was the most obvious thing.

Kurt bit his lip to hide his grin. "Well I had a lot of fun," he said after a pause.

"Yeah," Blaine agreed. "Can't wait till next time; it'll be your turn to pay."

"Next time?" Kurt teased. "Who says there'll be a next time?"

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. "Oh hilarious, Hummel. Honestly, you're so funny."

Kurt laughed. "I know, I'm very funny."

Blaine kissed him on the corner of the mouth, and Kurt wrapped his arms around his neck. He initiated the next kiss, but it didn't last very long given how largely they were both grinning. The next few followed the same pattern.

By the time they were both finally able to stop laughing long enough to have a real goodbye kiss, the front door opened.

"Kurt is that you - _oh_." Carole Hudson walked out, quite interrupting.

Kurt pulled his lips away from Blaine's in record time as Carole stared in shock. She blushed like Kurt, only Blaine seemed unperturbed. Kurt let his arms slide from around Blaine's neck, and Blaine pressed one last kiss onto his red cheek and murmured in his ear, "Goodnight," before walking back to his bike and letting it roar to life.

Blaine was gone quickly, and Carole ushered the still blushing Kurt into the house. Even though he didn't want to, Kurt knew Carole wanted to talk, so he sat down at the dining room table. She sat across from him with a smile on her face.

"So who's that?" She asked.

Kurt blushed again for no reason. "That's- that's, um- that's my- Blaine." He managed, growing redder with every word.

Carole raised her eyebrows and her mouth fell open in understanding. "He's the boy you brought to the wedding."

"Yeah," he barely squeaked out a reply.

She nodded and looked very much like she was trying not to laugh. "And how long has he been 'your Blaine' for?"

Kurt was pretty sure he couldn't get any redder. "I met him at the start of the school year. He was a new transfer student. We're friends."

She nodded slowly. "Pretty close, I guess." Kurt's gaze dropped to his hands in his lap. "So are you dating?" She asked.

"Kind of?" he responded. "I mean, we've gone out a few times, but that was the first confirmed date."

Carole paused for a moment. "He's cute." She said with a cheeky smile.

Kurt blushed darker and glanced up at her. "Yeah," he agreed.

Carole grinned. "You're lucky your dad wasn't home. He would've thrown a fit seeing you come home with a boy on a motorcycle."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Please, he used to ride a motorcycle." Carole giggled, probably at the thought of his dad on a motorbike. "Where is he anyways?"

"He left to bring Finn to Puckerman's ten minutes ago." She said. "So where were you guys?" She asked.

"We went to the movies. And then dinner." Kurt said. He'd noticed he was going pink with every mention of Blaine. Why was he doing that?

"I didn't know you were going to dinner," Carole said.

"Neither did I," Kurt confessed. "He kind of sprung it on me."

Carole nodded for a second before her eyes fell appraisingly onto the jacket he was wearing. "Am I right to guess that's his?"

Kurt glanced down and smiled fondly at the slightly too big, worn, navy blue jacket. "Yeah. It's his spare riding jacket."

Carole smiled at him with an odd sort of maternity he hadn't seen her look at him with. The kind of way she looked at Finn whenever he said something endearingly stupid, or mentioned his dad.

"Thanks for talking to me, sweetheart. I know this 'new mom' thing must've been as weird for you as it's been for Finn." She said.

Kurt shook his head slowly. "It's never been that weird. A little awkward at first, but… I like it."

Carole took his hand across the table and grinned. "Me too, sweetheart." She pulled away her hand before she asked, "So did you have fun tonight?"

He wasn't even surprised anymore when his cheeks turned pink. "Yeah. I had a lot of fun."

"Good," Carole murmured. "You deserve it." She stood up and started walking back to the living room. She turned at the doorway and said to him, "You better hide that helmet before your dad gets home. Former biker or not, we both know he won't have the best reaction in the world."

Kurt laughed and nodded. He picked up the helmet and went upstairs to his room before dumping it on the floor near his closet.

He pulled his phone out of his jeans and saw he had a few messages from Blaine.

**So first question, who was that woman? I hope you're not in trouble or anything.**

**Also, I had a lot of fun tonight, and I didn't get a real chance to say goodbye earlier, so goodbye.**

Kurt smiled and fell back on his bed and started texting Blaine back. _That's my stepmother, Carole. You met her at the wedding, remember? She's Finn's mom, and I'm not in trouble. If it were my dad, I might've been. _

**Oh, would daddy dearest not approve of me?**

_Not if he knew you just called him 'daddy dearest'_

**Can I call you?**

Kurt smiled and replied with a quick yes, and waited for his phone to ring. When it did, he nearly dropped it in his haste to pick it up.

"Hi," he smiled into the phone.

"Hi," Blaine returned.

They were both quiet for a moment before Blaine said, "I really am glad you came out with me."

"Me too." Kurt murmured. "But um, how did you get home so quickly? It took you like, five minutes to text me."

"Oh, I'm at Mike's house."

"Hi, Kurt!" Mike's voice came, sounding distant like he was yelling from across the room.

They talked for a little while, apparently Blaine and Sam were spending the night at Mike's for a video game marathon, and Blaine decided to sit the first round out after Mike and Sam yelled at him for pausing the game to text back. Kurt blushed at hearing that, but tried to remain casual. He had to hang up the phone when his dad decided it was too late to be on the phone with someone, so they continued texting after that.

He felt like most of the conversations he held with people over the internet or over text were forced, like they didn't know what to say or something, but there was no problem like that with Blaine. There would be a few minutes of silence when Blaine had to set down his phone to race in Mario Kart, or when Kurt would be texting Mercedes, but everything they talked about was effortless. It was just easy for them to talk.

Which is how Kurt let slip about a solo he got for sectionals, which in turn made Blaine type in all capital letters to illustrate his excitement, and to also yell at Kurt for not telling him immediately.

It was still really surprising to Kurt that he and Blaine were friends, especially as close friends as they were. He still felt like he was getting to know Blaine on a fundamental level, though they still shared secrets and kisses like they'd been friends for years. He felt like he could trust Blaine over most all of his other friends. And that was why he asked if Blaine wanted to go out with him again the following day, he didn't feel as nervous as he thought he would.

He fell asleep that night still thinking about Blaine, picturing how their next date would go, wondering if Blaine would kiss him again, or if he'd kiss Blaine. It was easy to get lost in how much he liked Blaine, even with Mercedes and Finn texting him while he tried to go to sleep new rumors they heard about Blaine, like how he's juvenile and whatever. Even if was true, Blaine made him think people could change, because if that was the old Blaine, or secret past-life Blaine, it was really different than current Blaine. And Kurt really liked current Blaine, and current Blaine really liked him too.


	5. Watching You's The Only Drug I Need

Blaine decided to get tulips. Tulips, because he needed to bring some kind of flower, and tulips smelled great and came in many different colors, and he didn't want to get roses or anything, because roses were kind of intense. And these flowers didn't need to be intense, they needed to be _I think that you're amazing and I came to see you perform because you're important to me_ without being too much. He thought, after he picked tulips, that everything else would be a walk in the park, but boy was he wrong.

After picking the type, he had to decide what color, and whether they should be solids or variegated, long stemmed or not, and how _many _he should get. So he just decided to get a dozen because that's pretty simple, and red because he just kind of had an idea that red would look great on Kurt.

He also decided to not take his bike, because he didn't want to ruin the flowers or anything, and since he wasn't done fixing up his car, he took his Aunt Mary's car. The competition was held at a theater he'd been to once or twice, so it took no time to get there. He hadn't actually told Kurt he would be attending, but Kurt had a solo, there was no way he could just not go.

So there he was, sitting by himself in the middle of a crowded auditorium with a bouquet of flowers on his lap. He hadn't wanted to see Kurt before his performance, just in case his attendance would make him more nervous, so he ducked in rather quickly when he got there. He just hoped he'd be able to see him alone after the show.

The old woman sitting next to him glanced down at the flowers with a grin. "Those for someone special?" she asked in a wheezy voice.

Blaine smiled and shook his head. "Just a friend, I'm afraid."

She giggled and grabbed his cheek. "Well with looks like these, they won't be a friend for much longer, dear." She said, laughing to herself again.

Blaine laughed and massaged his cheek. For an old lady, that was quite a grip. "What's her name?" she asked.

"It's – my friend – my friend's actually a boy." He said, waiting for some kind of a negative reaction.

She didn't seem to mind though. "What's _his _name?"

"Kurt." He answered, unintentionally gripping his flowers too tight in his hand.

"Is he cute?" she asked eagerly as her aged voice would allow.

Blaine bit on his lip to hide his smile and ducked his head when his cheeks turned pink. For whatever reason, talking about the guy he had a crush on with a stranger old lady was a little too much for his Saturday night.

"Yeah, he is."

She nodded with a smile. "You'll have to point him out when he goes on." A moment of silence passed before she said, "My grandson is a homosexual as well. His name's Bryan, do you know him?"

Blaine barely held back his laugh. Old people had this sort of tendency to assume all gay people, or black people, or any minority for some reason just knew each other, Blaine personally thought it was kind of endearing. "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"He's having a baby." She informed him proudly. "I haven't met the mother, but he's been with David for quite some time now." She looked at Blaine again and asked, "What's your name?"

"Blaine," he said, holding out his hand.

She grinned. "My name is Candice." She said, shaking his hand and looking at his face for a long moment. "You remind of my husband. Jeremy. He's performing tonight with the glee club from his continued education program. He has a solo."

"Kurt has a solo too!" he said too enthusiastically.

Candice laughed. "Our boys are just too talented, huh?" she winked at him and patted Blaine's hand. "Yes, he's very proud of himself, but I forgot to get him flowers."

"Oh, well you can buy some outside-"

"Don't worry, honey," she laughed again. "I may be old, but that doesn't mean I still can't skip the dinner."

Blaine's jaw dropped as Candice cracked herself up. "Candice!" he admonished playfully.

"I know, I know," she said. "I'm the bad-girl in my book club."

Blaine laughed and as the lights dimmed and settled more comfortably in his seat. Once they were introduced by some big, uncomfortable looking guy introduced them, the Hipsters came out. They performed an old Mike and the Mechanics song, and when a balding man started belting the bridge, Candice leaned towards Blaine and whispered as quietly as she could, "That's Jeremy."

The next group was, believe it or not, the _Warblers_. Like, from _Dalton._ Blaine almost attended school there. But the tuition was just a little too steep, so he just went to Westerville High until he didn't go to school at all. But Wes and David went there. He hadn't seen them in years; Wes was his best friend growing up, he lived right next door. Blaine went to school with him and David until high school, when Wes and David went to Dalton and Blaine jumped around a couple times from school to school.

There was an intermission after the Warblers, in which Candice went to the bathroom, and Blaine texted Kurt from auditorium to green room.

**Break a leg**

_What do you mean?_

**A little birdie (being you) told me you have a solo**

_Wait, are you here?_

**Of course I am. I even made a friend. Her name is Candice. Her husband's a hipster**

_Oh my god YOU'RE HERE?!_

_Why didn't you tell me you were coming?!_

**Surprise? **

Candice came back to her seat and peered at Blaine's phone. "I don't know how you can read that, it's so tiny."

"This is my friend, Kurt."

She grinned and said, "Oh, tell him good luck!"

**Candice said good luck**

_Thank Candice for me. Oh god we're going on, I'll see you after the show? Meet me at the café!_

Blaine didn't respond because the lights dimmed. The New Directions were announced and he fidgeted in his seat as a crew member came out with a single microphone stand and Kurt walked out wearing a maroon shirt and black pants, his hair done up as always.

"That's Kurt," he whispered to Candice.

He couldn't take his eyes off of Kurt, even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to. Something he didn't experience when he sang _with_ Kurt was how unprecedented his stage presence was. Not that he couldn't tell he didn't belong on stage singing with him, but watching him was entirely new, because he _owned _the stage. He demanded attention, he looked so perfect, like he lived on the stage, and it was remarkable. There wasn't a trace of uncertainty in his expression as the music started.

His jaw dropped when Kurt sang the first note, because he still couldn't get over how amazing his voice was, and _he was singing Barbra Streisand_. He wished he could've seen the look on Berry's face when Mr. Schue gave Kurt this song. He might've been prejudiced, but he liked Kurt's version of the song better than the original.

Kurt didn't need anything flashy to enhance his performance, he was perfect on his own; there was no fancy lighting or distracting dancers, he was all on his own and Blaine grew such a proud smile when Kurt belted out _and this time will be bigger!_

When he finished, Blaine was the first person to stand up, clapping and hollering, closely followed by Candice. The rest of the audience stood up as well, and Kurt actually blushed under the tumulus applause. When it died down and Blaine took his seat, the curtains drew, and he thought for a second they only had one song on their set until two spotlights hit the back curtains and music started up.

Sam and Quinn came out singing, and Blaine was positive Sam saw his grin. He was glad Schue had changed it up for this competition, because Sam was a good singer, and Quinn had a lovely voice, and he didn't really want Gigantor and Nose singing at him for three songs.

When they ran up to the stage, the curtains blew open and immediately his eyes found Kurt. He was doing the same simple movements as everyone else, but god, Kurt was just so attractive, it made him so much more enthralling than everyone else. After, was Santana's Amy Winehouse solo with Brittany and Mike dancing, and their impressive visuals actually captured his attention enough to keep his eyes off of Kurt.

After the final performance, the audience gave them another standing ovation and as they sat down again, the Warblers and Hipsters came back out for the judging. The uncomfortable guy came out as well and after a creepy message about organ donation, announced the Hipsters in third.

He clapped respectively, beside him, Candice was grinning widely. He tensed in his seat as the guy started talking again. "And the winner is…" he opened the envelope and Blaine held his breath. "It's a tie." He said lamely. "You're both moving on to the regionals!"

There was some vague applause, but Blaine just paid attention to the groups on stage; Wes was there, shaking hands with Mr. Schue, but he couldn't find David, and Kurt was jumping up and down with Rachel.

The groups shuffled off the stage with their trophies and the house lights came on, Blaine said goodbye to Candice and hurried over to the café, clutching the flowers too tightly. He looked around but couldn't see a single person he recognized around him, and was waiting for around a minute before Kurt ran over, slipping in between strangers and grinning when he got to Blaine.

"Hey, I didn't even know-" he started before he caught sight of the flowers. Blaine held out the bouquet to him and Kurt visibly melted.

He accepted the flowers and looked up at Blaine with an indescribably adorable expression. Kurt held them for a moment, bringing them up to his nose to smell them before kissing Blaine on the lips just more than a peck. "Thank you," he murmured before kissing him again.

Blaine smiled into his lips and when Kurt pulled back he said, "That was the first time you've ever kissed me in public."

Kurt just smiled at him. "You got me flowers." He said simply. "_And _you came to see me perform. That's more than I can say for anyone else."

Blaine looked around to make sure no one was paying him any attention before tucking his finger under Kurt's chin and kissing him deeply. Kurt pulled back, but Blaine cupped his face and said, "Hey, I wasn't done kissing you."

Kurt grinned and pecked his lips once more. "I want to get out of here, there are so many old people I think the smell is getting to me."

Blaine laughed and said, "Lay off, Hummel. That's my friend, Candice you're talking about."

Kurt shook his head and said, "Let's go get some food, I'm starving." He laced their hands together and pulled him toward the parking lot but stopped abruptly.

"Where's your bike?"

"Oh, do you _like_ the motorcycle now?" Blaine teased, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist. "But I'm actually mom-vanning tonight." He said, leading them over to the blue minivan. "Where's the Escalade?"

"I had Finn drive me, didn't feel like driving." He explained lamely. He climbed into the passenger seat with his flowers on his lap.

"Where would you like to go?" Blaine asked, fiddling with the heating.

"Fast food, I really have a craving for fast food." He said, turning on the car stereo as Blaine pulled out of the parking lot. Blaine took them to Wendy's simply because it was closest and once he and Kurt were seated at one of the high tables in the back, he started talking.

"You were really amazing," Kurt's cheeks turned deliciously pink as he looked up at Blaine with a smile. "I mean I knew you could sing, but I had no idea you could sing like _that_." Kurt blushed darker pink and he giggled. Blaine blushed too, because he always turned into like, a proud soccer mom around Kurt, and _god _that was so not sexy. "You know what, I'm just gonna shut up."

"No, no," Kurt said, grabbing Blaine's hand across the table. "Please continue, this is great."

Blaine laughed and sipped his soda. "You know I'm not short of compliments for you, but I think, as to hold onto any dignity I currently hold, I will refrain." He said, squeezing Kurt's hand.

Kurt hummed. "I'm glad you were there," he murmured. "I think it made me less nervous."

"Really?" Blaine asked, raising his eyebrows, a hint of a smile on his face. "I made you less nervous?" Kurt shrugged, blushing. "Well I guess that means I have to attend the rest of your performances."

"Well I doubt I'll have a solo at the next competition." He rolled his eyes.

Blaine shook his head. "You should. You're talented and I'd like hearing you sing over Rachel any day."

Kurt laughed. "Not many would agree with you." Blaine just shook his head at him. "But speaking of talented, I'd love your help on a piece I'm working on in glee, if you'd like to help me out with it."

"Help you rehearse?" he asked. "Do you need me to play it for you?"

Kurt nodded. "If you don't mind, it'd help a lot."

He nodded. "Sure, whenever you'd like to is fine, you know I have a piano at my house."

Kurt grinned. "You're the best." He said gratefully.

Blaine laughed. "Well, I can't do it for free, you should know."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "It's gonna cost you, a few kisses at least."

Kurt giggled. "I think I can work with that. But I don't know how much help I'll need, I might need to give you a date too."

"Oh, yeah? What kind of a date?"

"A nice one," Kurt assured him, playing with his hand over the table, a flirty grin on his face. "Maybe dinner at my house? With candles and dessert? I do recall telling you I can cook."

Blaine grinned. "That sounds like a fair price." He agreed, shaking Kurt's hand satirically.

Blaine took him home after they finished eating, kissing him long and hard once they were on his porch. Kurt knew his parents weren't home, so he didn't have to worry about Carole interrupting them again and he kissed Blaine fervently. Honestly, Blaine had no idea what was going on with them, but he was okay with that, because it worked.

Kurt pulled back. "Can I ask you something?" he asked softly.

"Mhmm," Blaine hummed, pressing a kiss on Kurt's neck, and even though it was brief, Kurt gasped and wasn't able to speak. Blaine eyed him for a second before kissing the same spot once more, letting his lips linger just a second longer, getting another huffy little whine from Kurt. "Is this a _thing _for you?"

"I guess so," Kurt breathed. Blaine smiled into his neck and Kurt tilted his head up to give Blaine a larger expanse to kiss.

"What did you need to ask?" he breathed against his skin.

Kurt didn't seem like he could breath. "Oh, right," he mumbled. "I was just wondering-" his breath hitched when Blaine sucked lightly on his pressure point. "What, um – what's going on here?"

Blaine pulled back and looked at Kurt curiously. "You mean between us?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, what exactly _is_… us?" he asked.

Blaine looked at him for a moment, brushing Kurt's loose hair behind his ear. "We're whatever you want us to be."

He bit his lip. "What if I don't know what I want yet?"

Blaine smiled. "I can work with that," he murmured. "We can just keep being _us_." He pecked Kurt's lips. "Does that sound okay?"

Kurt nodded with a coy smile. "That sounds very okay." He agreed.

Blaine smiled and kissed him once more, letting his lips linger on Kurt's before he pulled back. "I should get home," he murmured.

Kurt nodded. "Drive safe. Text me when you get there so I know you got home okay."

Blaine was pretty sure he blushed, but he didn't care. He kissed Kurt's cheek and stepped off the porch and back to his aunt's minivan. Yeah, it had been a good day. He made a friend, he made the boy he was crazy for happy, he got a lot of kisses, he had dinner with said boy, and even those last few moments were lovely, sort of deciding where they stood. It was starting to seem like every day Kurt was in was a good day.

**?!**

Blaine strode confidently up to Kurt, and even though he was going against the lunch rush, everyone parted like the red sea for him. He rested his palm on the locker near Kurt's head, and grinned broadly. Kurt peeked over at him and rolled his eyes, knowing Blaine was planning something.

"There's a party tonight, after the game, and you're coming with me." Blaine said surely.

"And why would I do that?" Kurt asked testily.

"Because you're my date."

"Is that supposed to convince me?"

Blaine just laughed. "You're cute when you insult me." Kurt tried to keep his cheeks from warming up. "Seriously, you should come with me. It'll be fun, and parties are something you have to experience at least one in your high school career." He said as the warning bell rang, the halls narrowing considerably.

"I don't know, I'm not exactly a party-goer," he murmured, closing his locker, "There's a lot of people in attendance who enjoying making my life hell, so I think I'll pass."

"Oh, don't worry about them," he said. "I'll protect you."

"My hero," Kurt quipped condescendingly as he turned away from Blaine to go to his French class.

Blaine followed him. "Kurt," he whined. "It won't be bad, I swear. And if it is, we can bail, okay? We can go make out in the back of a movie theater or something."

"You're so romantic," Kurt sighed. "I don't know, Blaine. I was planning on a night in, with homework and Grey's Anatomy."

Blaine stopped him from walking, grabbing his arm and leading him to stand against the wall of lockers. "You can do that whenever you want. How often are you given the opportunity to go to an after party with a chaperone?"

Kurt smirked but didn't say anything and Blaine stepped closer to him. On instinct he tried to back up, but he was already pressed against the lockers. Blaine kept their faces only inches away. His mouth went dry and he licked his lips. Blaine's eyes flicked down to his tongue but they were back up at his eyes just as quickly. He kept eye contact with Kurt as he slowly leaned in and took his lips in a kiss, tugging on his lips almost aggressively, sucking on Kurt's tongue and gripping his waist.

Kurt was very, very surprised, and he realized in the back of his mind he should've cared that they were in school, and they never kissed in school, but he couldn't pretend to care, because Blaine had never kissed him like _that _before. Blaine swallowed his moan and Kurt felt his dick stirring in his jeans and he squirmed.

Blaine pulled back, but Kurt chased his lips, because that was one hell of a kiss, and Blaine tasted like coffee even more than usual that day. Blaine fully pulled back and Kurt had to catch up with his breathing.

"So are we in agreement about tonight?"

"This is coercive." Kurt informed him breathlessly.

Blaine smirked. "I'm not forcing you," he said. "I'm being persuasive."

Kurt rolled his eyes but was smiling. "You're making me late for class." He said just after the final bell finished going off.

"May I pick you up at seven?"

Kurt looked at Blaine fondly. If nothing else, he cared that Kurt was enjoying himself. "You may."

Blaine grinned triumphantly. "I'll see you at lunch," he said before darting his eyes back down to Kurt's kissed lips lustfully. Maybe Kurt was horny or something, maybe it was just because of how good that last kiss was, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Blaine's again.

Blaine eagerly nipped at his lips, sucking and kissing and biting as if he were trying to convince Kurt the party was a good idea. If he was… it was working. And sue him, the boy he's crushing on really hard has him pressed against lockers with their mouths glued together, he was allowed to like it.

It came to an abrupt stop when Sue Sylvester rounded the corner and yelled at them to get to class. Blaine gave Kurt one last lingering look, accompanied by a smirk at Coach Sue's indignation, before turning and disappearing around the corner. After they were both out of sight, Kurt let his back slide down the row of lockers. For the first time, he was sitting on the floor of the McKinley hallway, but not because someone hurt him.

**?!**

Kurt finished getting ready at six thirty, and was double checking his outfit, white skinny jeans and a red and white dotted button up to match school colors. Finn walked into the room, still wearing his uniform top, but with jeans and converse.

"Hey man, do you-" Finn broke off mid-sentence when he saw Kurt. "No way, are you coming to the party tonight?"

Kurt nodded and Finn looked at him quizzically. "I thought you said these parties are stupid."

Kurt nodded again. "They are stupid."

Finn was probably confused, but Kurt didn't respond, partly because he didn't feel like talking to Finn, partly because he wasn't sure how to explain it.

"I'm going now to help Puck set up, do you want a ride? A few of the other glee kids will already be there too." Finn offered kindly.

"I'm all set, Finn."

Finn gave him a final smile before he said, "Okay. I guess I'll see you there, then."

He left and Kurt turned to his mirror again, tugging on a strand of his hair because it wasn't quite right. It took another ten minutes for it to be up to its usual standard, and after that, he just went downstairs to wait in the living room and listen to his dad go on and on about being safe, and not drinking, and not doing drugs, and everything else parents tell their kids before they leave the house.

Blaine's quick knock came at exactly 7 o'clock, and if his dad hadn't already been near the door, Kurt could've gotten there first.

So his dad opened the door and saw Blaine, standing with his hands in his pockets and looking up in surprise at Burt. Blaine stuck out his hand to Burt and said, "Hi, Mr. Hummel, it's nice to see you again. I'm – my name's Blaine."

Kurt walked up behind his dad, his coat already on, his bag on his shoulder. Burt shook Blaine's hand for one shake too long before he said, "Nice to see you too, Blaine. I met you at the wedding, isn't that right?"

Blaine nodded and Burt turned to Kurt, pursed his lips at him for a second and he said, "Be safe, okay, kid? Be smart."

Kurt nodded and tried to not roll his eyes. "Yes, dad,"

Burt looked back at Blaine and said, "You bring him back by midnight, okay?"

Blaine nodded and Burt stepped back for Kurt to pass him. Kurt gave him a small wave before he shut the door behind him.

"Let's take my car," Kurt said. It was a chilly night, and he's rather not wear a helmet and mess up his hair entirely.

Blaine got into the passenger seat and kicked his feet up on the dashboard. Kurt didn't bother reprimanding him, he just started driving over to the house. When they got there, Blaine grabbed Kurt by the waist and pulled him closer to him as they walked to the front door.

Kurt leaned into him, and Brittany opened the door, Quinn close behind her. Brittany beamed at them, and Quinn's eyes widened, presumably at Blaine's arm around Kurt's waist. Kurt felt his cheeks warm up, but Blaine's just tightened his hold on him.

The girls stepped back to let them in, and the boys walked inside.

The party was fun. Well, it was for Blaine and Kurt. Blaine had a beer when they got there but that was it, he wasn't interested in getting drunk, and being with Kurt gave him a buzz enough. Kurt had a wine cooler and they stood around the edge of the dance floor drinking idly before they joined the group.

The dance floor was packed so everyone was pushed pretty close together, and it was dark enough that you could barely see who was there, so Kurt and Blaine were able to dance and be themselves without a problem. And yeah, it was really fun when someone shut the lights so the only lights were people's phones and the glow sticks people had around their wrists and necks. Kurt kissed him then, Blaine figured he was comfortable kissing him when he was 100% positive no one would see them and cause a problem.

Kurt wasn't actually bad at holding his alcohol, the only difference in him seemed to be he was just more open with PDAs, but even then, that was minimal. Or so he thought before Kurt turned around and starting grinding against him. He let out a little bit of a grunt, taken by surprise, but also because it was kind of amazing. Kurt's ass was awesome to look at, but even better to have pressed against his dick. Kurt must've noticed that he was getting half hard just from grinding in the dark and pressing kisses onto the nape of his neck, but he didn't seem to mind.

It was a very fun night. The lights eventually came on, not as bright as before, so they were still squinting to see people apart from those right in front of them. Kurt turned around still, but he was just as close to Blaine as before, their legs tangling together and their breaths mingling.

"Do you want a drink?" he asked in Kurt's ear, almost having to yell over the pounding bass and the people shouting out of tune to the lyrics.

"Water," Kurt yelled back.

Blaine squeezed through breaks in people, brushing against more people than he wanted to, to get to the snack table against the back wall. He grabbed a bottle of water, figuring they could share it, because neither of them were going to down a whole bottle, and he was going to push back into the mix when Santana walked beside him.

He looked over at her, sipping out of a red solo cup that he grimaced at. "Really? Jungle juice? I pegged you for better."

She rolled her eyes. "I made it, I know it's good." She offered her cup to him but he shook his head. "It's gin, rum, vodka, and Kool-Aid, that's as classy as spodie gets."

He rolled his eyes. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to drink the Kool-Aid?"

She scoffed. "Whatever, I just came over to tell you that he's off limits."

He turned to her with a puzzled look. "What?"

"Lady Hummel is off limits." she repeated. "You break him, and Finn will kick your ass."

"I'd like to see him try." Blaine muttered, his eyes falling back onto the dance floor, looking for Kurt.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Fine, double-stuffed might not be able to, but I think we both know he'll flip if anything happens."

Blaine pondered that for a moment before deciding, "I don't think I care." Santana glared at him. "Look, Kurt's the only person in the school who knows me beside my name. We're friends. I don't know why people are so insistent to believe I'm just going to hump and dump him."

Santana eyed him for a moment. "Whatever. Just know you're never gonna get him to have sex with you."

Blaine flashed his eyes over to her. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Kurt. If you're just interested in his virgin ass to see his clothes on your bedroom floor, you're wasting your time."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Kurt's not just a sex object to me." Blaine checked the time. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go spend time with the guy I brought tonight, because he needs to be home by midnight."

Blaine walked away from Santana and stepped into the center of the room, where the party had made a sort of makeshift dance floor. Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand as he made it over to him and spun him in a circle, sort of announcing his presence.

Kurt giggled and fell into Blaine's embrace, both of them very close due to the limited space on the dance floor.

A new, quite upbeat song started, and Kurt leaned close Blaine, who grinned and put his hands on the small of Kurt's back. Blaine was glad he'd only had one drink, because he wanted to be sober enough to remember this the next day. As far as he knew, Kurt had only one drink as well.

Kurt grinned and pressed his body closer to Blaine's, eliciting a stifled moan from the other boy. He wrapped his arms around his neck, and pressed them together tightly. It was partly because they had to, due to the limited space, but mostly because with half a beer in Kurt's system, loosening him up, he was feeling a lot more adventurous.

He leaned closer to and put his lips around Kurt's ear lobe, and gave it a tug. Kurt shivered and pressed himself further onto Blaine, and Blaine grinned before removing his mouth from his ear.

As he tore his mouth away, he saw behind them, Santana, Finn, and Mercedes watching them. He brought his mouth back to Kurt's ear and asked, "Want to find someplace more private."

Kurt nodded and they separated if only to latch onto each other's hands and run upstairs.

The first room they got to, they left quickly because of a certain amount of naked people already in there. They ran down the hall to the last bedroom, and ran inside. Blaine shut and locked the door. He crossed the room and took him firmly around the waist, and attached his lips to Kurt's neck. Kurt gasped at the feeling of someone sucking on his more sensitive skin, and dug his fingers into Blaine's hair.

Blaine picked Kurt up and laid him on the bed before quickly climbing on top of him. He knew, or at least was learning, how sensitive Kurt was to his neck. Kurt wasn't sure why, but every time Blaine kissed his neck, his head went fuzzy.

But then Blaine kissed up his jaw and connected their lips. Kissing Blaine was amazing, and Kurt really never expected it to be. He knew Blaine had some experience under his belt, so he imagined he'd be a good kisser, but every time their lips touched, it felt like a shock of electricity.

Kurt wrapped his legs around Blaine, and Blaine laughed against his lips. They rolled over, and once Kurt was on top, he stopped holding himself up, and allowed himself to just lie on Blaine. Blaine's hands felt around Kurt's back, gripping his shirt, and Kurt's thoughts caught up with him in a rush. Things were going away from PG fast, and he was lying to himself if he thought he was okay with it.

He leapt off of Blaine, and scrambled to tuck in his shirt, his lips moving a mile a minute. "This is crazy, I can't be doing this. I- I need to get home and-"

Blaine watched Kurt from the bed, confusion etched into every one of his features. Kurt kept panic-talking, so Blaine stood up and clamped his hand over Kurt's mouth.

"Breath." He advised softly.

Kurt took a short breath before running his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, I have to go, I can't do this - I'm not _ready_ to do this -"

"Kurt-" Blaine said tiredly. He sat back down on the bed.

"And I want to but I can't, I know I'm not ready, I'm not-"

"Kurt-"

"And I know how much trouble you've gone through just to be friends and I appreciate it, and I wish I could, but -"

"Kurt!" Blaine yelled, finally shutting him up. "Would you relax?"

He patted the space beside him, and Kurt slowly walked over and sat down so he was barely touching the bed at all.

"It's okay." Was all he said.

Kurt's tense shoulders deflated, the worry lines etched into his forehead were erased, his frown turned into an expression of puzzlement.

"It's okay." Blaine repeated. "I don't mind you not being ready to do sexual things." He said simply. "I don't really see why you think it's such a big deal."

Kurt gaped at him. "But - but - but before, all you used to say was stuff about sex, and sleeping with me and -"

Blaine laughed. "Oh, that." He grinned at Kurt. "I just like seeing you blush."

And right on cue, Kurt's cheeks went pink. Blaine's grin grew wider. "I didn't expect you to be ready for a lot. I'm not upset, or disappointed, I'm actually kind of psyched I was right." His grin faltered for a moment. "You didn't really think that's all I'm spending time with you for, did you?"

"I don't - I don't know, I don't know you." Kurt stumbled through his words, not meeting Blaine's eyes. "I mean, kind of, but not - not really."

"We know each other," Blaine argued meekly.

"I don't even know…" Kurt picked his brain for the easiest thing to know about a person, "your favorite color."

"Maroon," Blaine answered immediately.

Kurt let out a small laugh. "Okay, but the point is I still don't know a lot about you."

"But you know more than most, so that's gotta count for something." Blaine retorted before standing up. "Now, c'mon, it's already 11:30, and I promised your dad midnight."

Blaine walked out of the bedroom and Kurt followed him, slipping his finger through the back belt loop of Blaine's jeans as he navigated them back downstairs through the crowds of people.

They got to Kurt's car, and Blaine drove them back to his house. He tried once or twice to start a conversation but Kurt was barely responsive.

"Tomorrow," Blaine said once they were out of the car and on Kurt's porch, just outside the door. "Come over. At noonish, it's time for us to get to know one another."

Kurt looked at his feet and nodded.

"Kurt?" Blaine spoke softly.

Kurt slowly looked up at him and saw Blaine's hands stuffed in his pockets like he was nervous.

"No, no," he said, "I'll be there. Noon."

Blaine let out a slightly huffed breath. "Kurt," he said again. Kurt realized he probably wasn't the most concerned about him coming over. Two creases formed between Blaine's eyebrows. "Are you mad at me?" He asked, his voice pitifully quiet.

Kurt's arm snapped out instinctively to grab Blaine's arm. "No." He said quickly. "No, I'm not mad at you."

Blaine shuffled his feet. "Kinda seemed like it. You haven't really talked to me since we left the party."

Kurt shook his head. "No," he repeated. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just flustered."

"Are you sure?" Blaine asked importantly.

Kurt nodded and grabbed Blaine's elbows, and pulled him close to his face. Blaine kissed him so lightly on the lips he seemed scared, like he still thought Kurt was mad at him. So Kurt moved his hand to hold the back of Blaine's neck and kissed him firmly on the lips. Blaine relaxed a few kisses in, and finally started kissing back, holding Kurt's waist with both of his hands.

And of course, because they had to worst luck in the world, the front door opened. Kurt didn't stopped kissing Blaine as quickly as he did last time, because Carole really needed to learn to just not open the door when she thought Kurt was home, and turned to the door and _oh god that's not Carole.__  
_  
"Dad! Hi." Kurt said, his cheeks flushing. Burt stood in the doorway, watching him with his lips pursed. He looked over at Blaine and was analyzing him more closely than he did before they left.

"It's Blaine, right?" He inquired.

Blaine nodded and Burt peered into the driveway here he saw Blaine's bike sitting. "You ride?"

Blaine followed his gaze and hastily said, "Yeah, yeah I do."

Burt squinted at the bike. "That a Harley?"

"King classic."

"What year is it?"

"'98."

Kurt watched in befuddlement at his father engaged Blaine in a fully fledged conversation about his motorcycle, and the gas mileage, and _that bike's good for people, I've worked on a couple_, and _come down to the shop anytime you need, I can fix her up, Kurt probably could too_.

Kurt's eyes flickered between Blaine and his dad, trying to decide whether he should just leave them alone, when his dad asked, "So how do your folks feel about you riding a motorcycle?"

Blaine hesitated for barely a second. "They're not really around."

His dad (thankfully) took the hint and didn't press the topic, but Kurt stared at Blaine with puzzlement on his face. But of course they were talking about football.

"Oh yeah," Blaine said. "I'm a huge Buckeyes fan."

"I didn't know," Burt said. "You should come over tomorrow and watch the game with us. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this year's lineup."

Kurt felt like he'd slipped into some alternate universe where his dad was okay with Kurt riding motorcycles, and he didn't comment on walking in on his son kissing people on the porch, and he was okay with teenage parties, and he invited strange boys to watch football.

"That'd be great, I'd love to." Blaine responded, sounding confused, but not nearly as confused as Kurt.

Burt nodded and said, "Well, thanks for bringing him home on time, I appreciate it. Kurt?" He turned toward the house and stepped into the door.

Kurt turned to Blaine with confusion etched all over his face. Blaine just pecked his lips and said, "I'll text you," before walking back over to his bike.

Kurt walked into the house and closed the door behind him and looked at the time on the stove; Quarter of midnight. He stepped into the living room where his dad had just sat down.

His dad sipped his beer and said, "Sit," gesturing to the couch beside his recliner.

Kurt robotically sat down and his dad muted the TV before looking at him. He wasn't sure if it was the muting of the TV that did it, but he felt extraordinarily nervous.

"So," Burt started. "I feel like you didn't tell me very much about that Blaine of yours."

Kurt blushed. Blaine wasn't _his_. He flicked his eyes up at his dad who shrugged. "I guess you didn't show how close you guys are."

Kurt bit the inside of his cheek. "Well, we're - we're pretty close."

Burt snorted. "I can tell, kid. It's not usually you I find making out on the porch."

Kurt blushed again and didn't respond. "So how many times have you been on his motorcycle?"

"I - I don't know, a few." He stuttered, because god, his dad's questions just kept throwing him for a loop.

Burt took another swig from his bottle. "You can probably guess I wasn't overly pleased about that." Kurt didn't make any indication he even heard him. "But at least he knows what he's doing."

Kurt just nodded slowly, looking at the silent football game on TV. "I'm not gonna start hounding you about where you go with him, or what you're doing, or anything," Burt started, "I just need to know that he's good to you."

Kurt looked up at his dad and saw him wearing a soft expression. Going into this conversation, Kurt had no clue what to expect. He didn't know if he should've envisioned a man-to-man type thing, or punishment for something, but this conversation was exactly the type of thing he _should've_ expected, because he kind of had the best dad in the world.

"Yeah," Kurt responded softly. "He's really good to me."


	6. I Kinda Wanna Be More Than Friends

Kurt rung the doorbell and took a small step back as he waited. He heard someone inside and quickly the door was opened.

Blaine was wearing a light gray Henley, pushed up to his elbows and black sweatpants that read, _Westerville Prep Fencing_ down the leg. He grinned at Kurt, his big dopey smile Kurt had never seen him wear when other people were around.

"You came." He sounded like he didn't expect Kurt to show up, and Kurt just couldn't take how cute he looked with his collar falling too low, and the undeniable excitement in his voice, and his bed head, Kurt just leaned on his toes and kissed him on the lips without thinking about it.

Blaine smiled into his kiss. "Hello to you, too," He greeted him playfully once Kurt pulled back.

Blaine stepped further into the house and gestured for Kurt to enter. Kurt took off his boots and walked into the semi-familiar house, and noticed how quiet it was.

"Are we alone?"

"Yup. Mary just took the kids to a birthday party, she won't be back until later, and John's working." Blaine shut the door behind Kurt and gave him a dazzling smile. "So we're going to be alone for a while." Kurt bit his lip and smiled nervously. He was alone in a house with Blaine… oh, the implications.

"C'mon," Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand. "There's a super comfortable couch in the living room we should get familiar with."

Blaine linked their fingers together and led Kurt onto a massive brown couch, sandwiched between a matching love seat and a side table. They laid down together with their heads on the armrest, and Blaine pulled a blanket over them to make it impossibly more comfy. Once they got situated on the couch, Blaine flicked on some soft music, Kurt wondered if what the glee club was saying about Blaine was true, all the asinine rumors. Sometimes it seemed like they could be, but at times like these, lying together in a house that smelt of vanilla, squished together under a blanket and listening to old jazz music with Blaine humming along under his breath, it didn't seem as likely.

Blaine slung his arm around Kurt's shoulders and pulled him closer. Kurt leaned into him, resting his head on Blaine's shoulder. He couldn't stop wondering about all those stories from earlier. Were they true? Was Blaine as terrifying as people made him out to be? He didn't seem like it when they were together, but how he was when they weren't together, he had no idea.

"What's on your mind?" Blaine asked softly, nudging Kurt's head with his nose.

Kurt deliberated asking for a moment, not wanting to upset Blaine. "If I ask you something, can you promise not to be mad?"

"Whatever you say, Kurt." Blaine said dismissively.

Kurt took a deep breath. How to word it, which question was the most pressing… "Okay, is it true you carry a knife with you?"

Blaine snorted. "Do people really think I carry a knife with me?" Kurt opened his mouth to answer but Blaine continued. "More importantly, do _you _think I carry a knife with me?"

Kurt's cheeks felt warm and he just sort of shrugged. Blaine bent his face nearer Kurt's. "Do you think I carry a knife with me?"

"I don't know, I barely know you." Kurt said evasively.

"Barely know me, hmm," Blaine said in an amused voice. "So you were totally going to bang a stranger last night?"

Kurt blushed to his roots. "I was not going to sleep with you at that party."

"Uh huh," Blaine said cockily. "I'm sure the thought never crossed your mind." Blaine pressed a kiss onto Kurt's cheek with a patronizingly loud 'mwah'.

Kurt turned his head away from Blaine mumbling, "You're an asshole."

"Well you still keep me around, so I must be doing something right."

"I think I'm just doing something wrong." Kurt muttered snarkily.

"Or something very right," Blaine murmured in his ear.

"No, I think I'm doing something wrong." Blaine just laughed. It was quiet for a while, but a nice quiet.

"No, I don't carry a knife with me." Blaine said finally. Kurt nodded slightly. Okay. Good.

"Any other questions?" Blaine asked lightly.

"Hmm?"

"Anything else the students of McKinley high have concocted you're curious about?"

Kurt debated that. It was the perfect opportunity to debunk some rumors, but he didn't want Blaine to think his opinion of him was swayed at all because he was naïve enough to believe those rumors.

"Fine. How about we just learn a little bit about each other and you can slip in questions here and there." Blaine suggested.

Okay, that was easy. "What's your middle name?"

"Devon." Blaine answered. Kurt lifted his head off of Blaine's shoulder and looked at him.

"Blaine Devon Anderson." He said. Kurt grew a smug, little smile, "That's very cute."

Kurt's eyes widened when he saw a faint blush appear on Blaine's cheeks. "What's yours?"

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel."

Blaine looked up at him in surprise. "Elizabeth?" Kurt nodded once. "After your mother?" Blaine guessed, not really needing any confirmation.

Blaine turned onto his side towards Kurt to lay down. He took Kurt's hand and tugged on it. Kurt copied Blaine's position, his head falling slightly forward so their noses touched.

"Hi." Blaine said softly.

Everything was so different. Before, when they were together, it was Blaine flirting, or being obnoxious, or cocky, or generally unpleasant. He was so much different now. Not every joke he made was at Kurt's expense, he wasn't constantly hinting at wanting to sleep with him, quite contented with just holding his hand. What changed? Why were they so different? Kurt knew he should care more, and try to get to the bottom of it, but it had been a nice day, and Blaine was being so sweet, and they were enjoying being together, he wasn't going to try and change anything.

"Hi," he returned with a smile.

They didn't say anything for a while. They just watched each other, making frequent eye contact, learning each other's faces. At one point Blaine angled his head slightly more forward so he could press their foreheads together.

Blaine let out a loud yawn, scrunching up his face and letting it out. Kurt giggled at him, and once he closed his mouth, Blaine pouted at Kurt for half a second before he puckered his lips. Kurt didn't even bother rolling his eyes. He pressed a light kiss onto Blaine's lips.

"So tell me about you." Blaine said. "Who are you, Kurt Hummel?"

"Well, I'm a junior in glee club, my dad's a mechanic-"

"No," Blaine interrupted. "I already know all that. Tell me what makes you, _you_, more than some junior in a glee club with a mechanic dad." He explained.

Kurt pondered that for a moment before he said, "All right. What kinds of things do you want to know?"

"Everything," Blaine said, his eyes excited. "The good, the bad, the ugly,"

"Well it's me, so there is no ugly," Kurt commented snidely.

Blaine laughed. "Okay, so you're cocky. Good to know."

Kurt smiled and wedged his leg between both of Blaine's to get more comfortable. Blaine smirked and said, "Suggestive too. So I'd say you're not a very forward person."

Kurt blushed and said, "I'm forward about most things. But not things I'm uncomfortable with."

"Like what?" Blaine asked. "What makes you the most uncomfortable? Is it me?" Kurt laughed aloud. "Is it public speaking?" Kurt shook his head no. "Is it sex?"

Kurt gave no visible response and Blaine's mouth fell open. "It's sex? Are you asexual? Are you secretly a girl? Or do you wish you were a girl?"

Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine's ridiculousness. "None of those make sense." He informed him. "And I'm just uncomfortable… talking about it."

Blaine smiled. "Oh, well I figured out that one all on my own." Kurt raised his eyebrows at him. "You blush every time you say the word sex."

"Shut up," Kurt said as Blaine laughed. "I've just never been comfortable with it; I – I have about as much sexual appeal and knowledge as a – a baby penguin!"

Kurt felt his cheeks warm up and he ducked his chin to try and hide his face, but it just made Blaine laugh more. Blaine brushed his fingers through Kurt's hair, and Kurt didn't protest. He couldn't remember the last time someone touched his hair and he didn't throw a fit.

"Okay," Kurt said, lifting his head. "I've thought of some questions. Just to learn about you."

Blaine grinned and said, "Lay it on me."

"What was your favorite childhood movie?"

Conversation flowed freely for them. It wasn't the forced conversations Kurt tried to hold with Finn even though they weren't remotely compatible. It was even easier than conversations with Mercedes, which had a tendency to start dragging on for days once they'd finished fashion and music and boys.

"Okay, this one I heard before I really knew you: did you sell your kidney on the black market?"

Blaine barked out a laugh. "Okay, now you're just quoting 10 Things I Hate About You."

Kurt looked at him in wonderment. "You've seen that movie?"

Blaine looked almost offended. "Of course I have. Teenage Heath Ledger." Kurt rolled his eyes without any real scorn.

"Next question!" Blaine commanded cheerily.

"Is it true you should be a senior but you missed last year because you were in juvie?" Kurt asked, not thinking it'd be that bad of a question.

But then Blaine was quiet for too long. He was staring down at their hands, rubbing his calloused thumb over the smooth skin of Kurt's hand, still not answering.

Kurt's face burned in embarrassment. "You- you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He hurried to say, flustered and just, why did he have to ask? Things were going so nicely.

"It's okay," Blaine murmured, his tone not indicating he heard Kurt's embarrassment in his voice. "I want to tell you, I- I trust you."

It was Blaine's turn to blush. He sat up, the warmth that had been radiating between them and under the blanket gone just the same as the playful mood. Kurt sat up with him and Blaine shuffled closer to him unintentionally.

"I did drop out of school last year," Blaine began slowly. "But not because I was in juvie. My um- my- my-"

Blaine continued stumbling over his words until he finally stopped when Kurt gently took his hand.

"You know I live with my aunt and uncle, right?" Blaine started again. Kurt nodded quickly. "Well, there's kind of a long story here. Not really a happy one either."

Kurt patiently waited for Blaine to continue, rubbing soothing circles into the back of his hand.

"When I was a little kid, my dad used to hit me." Kurt froze momentarily. He hurried to continue making circles once he realized he'd stopped, but not quickly enough for Blaine not to notice. "It's okay," he reassured him. "It was a long time ago."

Blaine cleared his throat before he continued, his voice slightly watery. "And- and it got better once I got older. You know, people started noticing. And eventually I was shipped off to private school for my academics, and I was able to get out. My mom- she must've known, and I know that, but I never resented her for it. She was everything to me. She raised me by herself, because my old man was too often out getting wasted, and she was the smartest person I've met, and so beautiful."

_She was his whole world_. Kurt knew it just with two sentences. Blaine didn't need to say it, it was so clear.

"But- but last year, my mom got cancer."

Kurt's heart dropped. Blaine told him this wasn't a happy story, and he knew that this was something Blaine probably never told anyone, and needed to tell someone, but he didn't want to hear it.

"My dad-" Blaine let out a bitter laugh. "He bailed the second we got the news, even bothered filing for divorce. And my mom couldn't work, she was so sick-" Blaine's voice cracked and Kurt moved closer to hi m, pressing a kiss onto Blaine's shoulder. "So I got a couple jobs, dropped all my extra-curriculars to work, but it still wasn't enough. So I dropped out of school."

Blaine's eyes were shining more than usual and Kurt had absolutely no clue what to do to help him. So he just wrapped his arms around Blaine and held him tightly against his chest.

"I spent all of last year working to pay the medical expenses and regular things like bills. I sold my car to pay since my mom was staying full time at the hospital anyways. I fixed up the old bike that'd been in my garage for decades to get around to work."

Blaine paused for a moment, gliding his nose over Kurt's clavicle and breathing in his scent before he continued. "She died at the start of the summer. John and Mary are my godparents, so I moved in with them after. I haven't heard from my dad since he left."

Blaine was quiet for long enough that Kurt decided to speak. "Do you like John?" He asked, his voice shaky.

Blaine didn't answer immediately. "Some days he's okay." He said finally. "But we fight a lot, cause I'm gay, and he thinks I'm a bad influence on his kids, and he wants me to take out my piercings, and show my father respect when I talk about him."

Kurt's anger flared. How could anyone be expected to show respect to someone like _that_? Kurt had trouble appreciating his own dad, and his dad was, all in all, an amazing father. "Hope you don't mind, but I kind of want to kill your dad." He said evenly as he could.

Blaine just sort of shrugged. "Whatever. Doesn't matter."

Kurt disagreed. Blaine mattered. He mattered a lot, and he felt a pang in his chest when Blaine suggested otherwise.

"How's Mary?"

A small smile wormed its way onto Blaine's face. "Mary's lovely. She's a great mom, and she's a lot like my mom. She was her sister. Sometimes she'll try to reason with John, but for the most part he only picks a fight when she's not home."

Kurt leaned close to Blaine, pressing a soft kiss on his neck. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Blaine smirked, but the pain still showed on his face. "I already told you it doesn't matter."

Kurt pressed another kiss on Blaine's jaw line and hummed softly. "Not true." He murmured. "You matter."

Kurt moved away from Blaine when he turned to him. Blaine looked so utterly confused, Kurt wondered the last time someone reminded him he was important. Too long.

Blaine's eyes were still shining, and he was quiet for a long moment. He laid back down on the couch cushion, resting his head on Kurt's chest, his arm falling over the other boy's waist.

Kurt's fingers wriggled through Blaine's tangled curls, massaging his scalp as he played with his dark hair. Blaine sighed contently and mumbled something unintelligible.

Kurt's head fell back onto the couch. He thinks he knew from the beginning Blaine wasn't some crazed wild-child, and that at least some of those rumors couldn't be true. But this kind of explanation was great to have.

He glanced down at Blaine, unable to see his face, but saw how he'd instinctively curled up around Kurt. Blaine revealed a really different side of himself to Kurt. He showed him that he was able to truly love someone, that he cares about school more than he lets on, and most importantly, he allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of Kurt. He trusts Kurt.

Kurt felt something hot slide down his throat at the thought. Blaine _trusts_ him. He genuinely trusts him. The sky started to darken as Kurt's eyelids got heavy. He mumbled Blaine's name, but he didn't hear him. Maybe he was asleep. Kurt's eyelids fluttered close as thoughts of the boy holding him crept into his mind.

**?!**

Kurt didn't get home until late; probably later than his dad liked. It was nearly six when he walked in to find Carole washing dishes, and his father and Finn watching football. He quickly joined Carole at the counter before his dad could call him into the other room. He could only imagine what Finn had told Burt about Blaine.

"Hey, hon," Carole greeted him cheerfully. "You were gone for a while; you missed dinner."

Kurt nodded. "Sorry I didn't call, we fell asleep."

Carole's cheeks went pink. "That's not - that isn't code for - for anything, is it?" She stumbled through the question, unable to look at Kurt.

"No!" Kurt answered too loudly. "God, no, we fell asleep on his couch. Honestly." He wasn't sure who was more red; him or Carole.

Carole smiled at him, continuing with washing the dishes. "Are you hungry?" She asked. "There's leftover chicken in the fridge."

"That's okay," Kurt said offhandedly. "I'm going to dinner with Mercedes and Tina in a few minutes."

"Hey, Kurt, can you come here?" Burt called from the couch.

Kurt suppressed his sigh and walked into the room as slowly as he could without it seeming childish. "Hey, dad." he greeted him. "Sorry I'm late, we-"

Burt silenced him with a finger. "You were that boy- Blaine, is that right?" Kurt nodded.

Finn looked at him nervously, his apology in his eyes. Kurt just sort of shrugged at him.

"What were you doing?" Burt questioned.

"Well, we spent time in his living room, we talked for a while, and we fell asleep." Kurt explained. Carole wasn't making enough noise to convince Kurt she was still doing dishes. Finn's eyes flickered between Burt and Kurt routinely as if it were an engrossing TV show.

"I want you home on time next time." His dad said finally.

"Well, my curfew's not till ten –"

"Kurt," Burt cut him off in the most authoritative voice he could manage.

Finn was still watching the both of them, but at least Carole was actually doing the dishes again. "Fine. Like I told you yesterday, I'm going to go to dinner with Mercedes and Tina. I'll be back by eight."

His dad nodded and Kurt smiled at Finn before walking out of the room and pulling out his keys again. He checked his phone, and Mercedes sent him a message of _We're here, our table's near the back, so hurry up!_ Kurt pulled into the breadsticks parking lot and walked inside quickly to find his girls waiting.

"Okay, spill." Mercedes demanded before Kurt took his coat off.

"I'm sorry?" He said, sitting across from them.

"We heard you spent the day with Blaine." Tina leaned across the table, smirking as she spoke, resting her chin on her hands.

Kurt blushed even though he had nothing to blush over. "That's true."

Mercedes and Tina shared a smirk. "What did you do together?" Mercedes asked.

"Are you going to interrogate me the whole night?" Kurt quickly asked instead.

"No, but the faster you answer, the faster we'll be done." Tina replied.

"So what did you do?" Mercedes asked nosily.

Kurt shrugged. "We spent his house, listening to jazz music and laying on his couch. We talked for a long time, and we fell asleep. I went home after."

"Oh, _'fell_ _asleep'_?" Mercedes repeated suggestively.

"No!" he huffed. "Why does everyone think that's what it means?"

"Well," Tina giggled. "You were kind of all over each other at that party." Mercedes nodded with a grin.

"So what'd you talk about?" She prompted.

Kurt started tracing the grains in the table. "I asked him about some of the rumors you guys told me about-"

"How many were true?" Tina interrupted.

"Almost none." The girls gave him looks that clearly asked for more details. "He still has his liver, he doesn't carry weapons with him, he's never been to juvie," he said listlessly.

The girls shared another look, though this one much softer. "He told you all that?" Tina asked, wonder in her voice.

Kurt nodded. "He must really like you." Mercedes pointed out. "He never tells anyone else stuff about him."

Kurt shrugged. He wasn't sure he wanted the girls to know all of what Blaine told him. He wasn't really sure why. He trusted the girls, and it wasn't a secret, he just… he just felt like somehow he'd be betraying Blaine's trust. And Blaine trusting him, though he didn't realize it before, was turning out to be important to him.

"So are you guys gonna get together again?"

"He's coming over tomorrow to watch the game." Kurt responded, rolling his eyes when the girls predictably squealed.

"Oh, hold up," Mercedes said as Tina kept giggling. "You get a boy-toy and suddenly you're watching football? Hell to the nah."

"Okay, no one said anything about boy-toys," he said quickly. "And it's not like _I'll _be watching the game. My dad just walked out when we were saying our goodbyes after the party –"

"Did he walk you to the door?" Tina interrupted with a smile. Kurt rolled his eyes and nodded.

"And he invited Blaine to watch football with us on Monday. So obviously he said yes."

Their waitress came over and set their drinks on the table, giving Kurt a minute to breath. He kind of had a feeling Finn would relay the message around that Kurt was at Blaine's house all day, which would've explained why he looked so nervous during the short time he was home. He kind of wished he hadn't though, because it would've been nice to go to dinner with his girls and have them treat him like they normally would, not like he was some shiny new model of Kurt.

Tina opened her mouth to say something but Kurt cut her off. "Can we please talk about something else? As fun as it is about being interrogated about my friend, I'd rather go on at Regionals naked."

Mercedes and Tina shared a guilty look. "Sorry," Mercedes said. "It's just – it's been a while since we've seen you this happy, and we're curious."

"It's fine, I guess, I'd just prefer you tie in a question here and there, not fire away questions nonstop and make me feel like I'm only here for your entertainment. It's dehumanizing." He grumbled, sipping his coke.

Tina grimaced. "Sorry, Kurt, we really just love seeing you happy, and we want to be part of it." She said, but she sounded unsure of it.

C'mon, Kurt, they're your friends, they just want to be a part of your life. Besides, Blaine was becoming a very large part of his life, they were right to want to know about him. He sighed and said, "No, it's fine, I'm overreacting."

Tina gave him a tentative smile and Kurt saw she and Mercedes still looked a little anxious, and took a second before so he said quickly and quietly, "But he is a great kisser."

Mercedes' jaw dropped and Tina let out a shocked laugh. "Kurt!" Mercedes exclaimed. "Oh my god, I totally knew it."

Tina splayed her hands on the table and said, "So wait, does that mean you're together?"

Kurt shook his head. "Not really. I mean, we might _get _there," he said slowly, a grin lowly taking up his face. "But not right now. Honestly, I think he just needs a friend right now."

"Yeah, a friend he's hooking up with." Mercedes said with a smirk.

Kurt blushed and said, "Hooking up is a very _suggestive _phrase."

The girls laughed again Kurt couldn't help but smile. Part of the reason he didn't want to tell them about Blaine was because he didn't think they'd react positively. He wasn't ashamed by Blaine by any means, it was just that Blaine was so new to Kurt, and newer to his friends, and he just didn't want them to not like him especially without giving him a chance. But he definitely underestimated them; now his biggest worry was Finn and Rachel. Finn, because he was his brother now, and was constantly trying to make up for how he used to treat him, and Rachel was extraordinarily _nosey_, and liked to act like she was his best friend, so they would definitely try to involve themselves more than they should.

After that initial awkwardness was gone, everything was how it used to be. They could talk about glee club, discuss the solos they hoped for, and gossip about whatever the girls were hooked on, and of course, talk about boys.

"You're lucky," Tina was saying to Mercedes, "I love Mike, but he drives me crazy. All he ever wants to do is go to Asian restaurants, and Asian-run stores, and Asian markets-" she cut herself off bitterly. "I almost miss being single. I don't know why I can't just have a normal night in with pizza and a Rachel McAdams movie."

Mercedes shook her head, "I'd take Dim Sum every Thursday night over sitting in my room _alone_." Kurt laughed and Mercedes turned to him, "What about you? Is your boo taking you out?"

Kurt grinned and said, "_Blaine_," he corrected, receiving an eye roll, "Has taken me out."

"Where'd you go?" Tina asked excitedly as she ate her food.

"To the repeat of _Love, Actually_ that the theater down the street was just playing, and we went to that Vietnamese place in west Lima." He said easily.

Tina groaned. "God, that's such a _normal_ date." She grumbled. "I wish Mike would take a leaf out of Blaine's book."

"Well, they _are _friends." Kurt mused. "I'll tell Blaine to drop a hint."

"Seriously," Mercedes said to him. "When are we getting together? I feel like I haven't seen you in _forever_."

Kurt hummed, sipping his Coke. "Well, we're scheduled for a sleepover with Rachel pretty soon."

Mercedes rolled her eyes playfully. "Yeah, because that's what I need to help relax and catch up with my boo. Rachel."

Dinner wasn't anything special, it was just Kurt catching up with his girls, but it _felt _special. Mostly because it had been so long since it had just been them, and he didn't realize it, but he'd been spending a _lot_ of time with Blaine lately. And only with Blaine. So that accounted for why a lot of what he talked about was Blaine.

"You guys should come out with us soon." He commented at one point. "We can go on a double date. Or a triple date."

Tina laughed. "That'd be fun," she agreed excitedly.

Mercedes just rolled her eyes. "Great, so instead of being a third wheel, I could be a _fifth_ wheel."

Kurt placed his hand over hers. "It'll be fun, I promise. We can go bowling or something."

She pursed her lips. "Fine," she allowed. "But it's bumper bowling."

He grinned. "Awesome, Blaine loves bumper bowling."

She scoffed. "Of course you would know that."

**?!**

When Monday came and it was just about time for the game, Kurt shut his laptop and headed downstairs. He didn't really think he had to be waiting for Blaine to get there, so he went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of iced tea. He was already sitting on the love seat with the latest Vogue when Carole opened the door for Blaine. He gave her a grin and walked into the living room where Kurt was with his dad and Finn.

Blaine walked past Kurt entirely, first going to shake Burt's hand, apparently ignorant of the stern look Finn was giving him. Burt chuckled at Blaine but greeted him.

"Glad you could join us." He said. "First time I'll ever be able to get Kurt to watch a game."

Kurt just rolled his eyes, but couldn't contain his smile when Blaine laughed his gorgeous little laugh.

Blaine walked back over to him and kissed him on the lips before sitting down next to him. It was really just a peck, but it felt and looked so normal, so practiced, Kurt felt himself blush knowing Finn and his dad saw it. Blaine kissed him on the cheek and said quietly to him, "Hi."

"Hi," Kurt returned. "I hope you realize what you've gotten yourself into." He dropped his voice so only Blaine would hear, getting a grin from him.

All in all, it was a really weird game. Kurt didn't have much experience with watching football games, but he still thought it would've been considered weird. Carole joined them about fifteen minutes in, taking a seat between her son and Burt. The whole game, Kurt and Blaine sat on the love seat, Blaine's arm thrown casually around Kurt's shoulders and no one so much as batted an eye. Burt just talked to Blaine about the game, Carole just talked to Blaine about life, and to Kurt about school and glee club, trying to include Finn, who seemed like he was trying very hard to ignore them. Blaine would occasionally press a kiss onto Kurt's cheek or lips if they'd gone too long without saying anything to each other, no one acted like they even noticed.

So by the time the game was over and Blaine let Kurt walk him to the door, he'd been in an amazingly good mood. Blaine pulled Kurt into a tight hug and held him for a minute before he pulled back and pecked him on the lips.

"This was fun." Blaine said with a grin.

Kurt laughed. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." he said. "And I'm sure you're welcome whenever you're in the mood for rhapsodizing about the buckeyes."

"Always," Blaine retorted before he kissed him again, brushing his hand on Kurt's cheek, holding the back of his head.

"Oh," Kurt mumbled into his lips, pulling back. "Prepare yourself for bumper bowling with Mercedes, and maybe Tina and Mike sometime soon, alright?"

Blaine laughed under his breath. "Whatever you say, sweetheart," he muttered before pulling Kurt closer. "I'm really glad I met you." He murmured, brushing his thumb through Kurt's hair. His other hand cupped his cheek, his fingers touching his skin in a feather light way.

Kurt smiled and held Blaine's hand on his cheek. "I'm glad too," he murmured just as quietly. "You've kind of… turned my world upside down this year."

He could see Blaine swallow, and Blaine looked like he wanted to say something, but he just ducked his head. Kurt nudged Blaine's nose with his own and kissed him softly on the lips. He slowly pulled back and Blaine touched their noses together and whispered, "I um – I should probably get going."

"Okay," Kurt replied just as softly. "I'll see you in the morning."

Blaine nodded and petted Kurt's hair again before letting go of him and snagging his keys off the counter. He walked outside and was gone, Kurt shut the door but gazed out the window fondly. Good night. Much better than he expected; he was anticipating at least one minor disaster.

**?!**

Finn drove himself to school that morning cause Kurt left without him cause he was _taking too long _or whatever. He still had ten minutes before the first bell, he didn't know why Kurt was in such a hurry. It was probably better though, cause now he could just drive himself home after football instead of calling his mom or getting a ride from Puck.

He rounded the corner towards his locker and saw at the end of the hallway, Kurt. Leaning against a locker with a grin on his face, looking up at Blaine. _Blaine. _Where did that guy even come from? It was like, one day everything was normal and in order, but then _bam! _this Blaine guy comes in and makes Kurt a totally new, barely recognizable Kurt, and takes Puck from his best friend position, and becomes a bigger enemy to Karofsky than Finn is.

He jimmied open his locker, still looking at them. Blaine was making Kurt laugh about something. Not that that was bad, but Kurt was wearing this doe eyed expression, grinning too widely and laughing for too long. Ah, crap. Blaine was getting to him, wasn't he? Finn had heard more than a small amount of things about Blaine, like how he'd gone to juvie for shanking another kid, and how his motorcycle's actually stolen, and that he sold his own organs for weed money. But he didn't care all that much, let the guy be who he was, fine. But now he was bringing Kurt into the picture and it became not okay. Definitely not okay.

He shut his locker without the books he needed and went towards his first block class, watching the two down the hallway until they were out of sight. He had U.S. History first block with Mike, Puck, Sam, and Artie. It was pretty predictable that he had no idea what they were doing in that class. He took his usual seat between Puck and Sam and gestured for Artie and Mike to listen in.

"I need to talk to you guys about something," he started seriously; ignoring Puck chiming in with _he's coming out of the closet! _"It's about Blaine."

"Dude, are you actually coming out?" Puck asked. "Crush on your brother's boy?"

Finn rolled his eyes. "No, I don't like Blaine. It's sort of the opposite." The warning bell rang and a few more classmates filed in, making the room even louder. He leaned his head closer to the middle of their sort of circle so everyone could hear him. "I think we should do something about him."

"Are you talking like, beating him up?" Sam asked lowly, peeking around to make sure no one else heard.

"No, I mean just like, intimidating him." He said. The guys looked confused. "Him and Kurt have been really… close lately. And I don't like the way he looks at him. I think we should just intervene, and let Blaine know what's what."

Puck was shaking his head. "That's a terrible idea, bro."

"Wha-"

"Anderson will kick your ass if he thinks you're trying to intimidate him. Besides, Kurt's cool with him." He said, shrugging.

"I don't know, man, I've heard some seriously bad things about him."

"So? You've heard bad things about me too."

"Yeah, and they're all true." Finn retorted dryly. "I don't like them together. He's going to hurt Kurt, I know it."

Artie was starting to look convinced. "I think I have to agree with Finn. Blaine's a nice guy, but we've all heard those stories about him." He said significantly. Mike still looked unsure.

"I don't know, I'm friends with Blaine. He actually seems to like Kurt, guys. We don't even know if those stories are true." He said reasonably, looking at Puck for support. "What ever happened to the benefit of doubt?"

Finn shook his head. "If you don't want to talk to him, fine. But Kurt's my brother now, I've gotta look out for him. If you're in, meet me in the locker room at the end of the day." He said finally. Sam and Artie nodded slowly, starting to get swayed by his words, Mike looked extremely uncomfortable, Puck was just shaking his head, muttering to himself.

If Finn couldn't get all of his friends to back him up, fine. But he was doing this. They were just going to _talk_, it's not like they were going to kick the crap out of him or anything. Besides, if it'll help Kurt in the long run, Finn thinks he'll be grateful. It wasn't like Blaine was anywhere near as serious about Kurt as Kurt was about him.

**?!**

At the end of the day, Finn got to the locker room like he would've for football, practice was cancelled cause of the thunderstorm. Blaine was in the back where he always was, finishing up with a punching bag, and one of the only other people in there. Finn almost went up to him by himself, but just before he did, Sam walked in, followed by Mike, pushing Artie's wheelchair.

"Puck?"

Sam shook his head. "Not coming."

Finn sighed and said, "Whatever. It's go time." he took the lead and walked over to Blaine, who looked up before they were quite over, looking at Finn in puzzlement.

"Dude, we need to talk to you." Finn said seriously to Blaine, who was sitting on a bench in the boy's locker room, taking off his boxing tape from his fourth block gym class.

Blaine raised his eyebrows at Finn and saw him flanked by some of the New Directions guys. "Sure, what's up?"

"You need to lay off Kurt," Finn said firmly. Blaine looked around at all of them, his glance lingering on Mike. Mike was his friend, and he certainly didn't look as stony and pissed as the other guys, he was still with them. He looked at Blaine with a trace of guilt. Blaine rolled his eyes and turned back to Finn.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Kurt didn't ask you to do this?" he asked sardonically.

Finn looked a little embarrassed but plowed on. "No, but he needs us to look out for him. He doesn't know-"

"Doesn't know what?" Blaine interrupted. "That I'm really just a big bad boy who's going to hurt him? Because last time I checked, he's the only person at this school who's bothered to get to know me."

Sam stepped forward slightly, reaching his hand out as if to brace for Blaine charging at him. "Look Blaine, we don't have a problem with you, really. But we have to look out for him." he said, trying to sound reasonable.

Blaine squinted at him and cocked his head slightly to the side. "I'm sure your intentions are just great, but Kurt's a big boy now. He can take care of himself."

Artie wheeled closer to him. "Just lay off Kurt, okay? He doesn't need someone like you messing with him."

Blaine stood out of his chair, not able to stand how disadvantaged his position was at that moment. "Someone like me?" he repeated incredulously.

Artie looked slightly abashed, but still tried defending himself. "C'mon man, you wear that crappy jacket all the time, you ride a skateboard everywhere, and you have earrings. You're like Puck, and we know what guys like you are looking for."

Blaine looked around to see if Puck was there, but he wasn't. He wondered if he'd faced something similar when he dated Quinn last year. If he had, Blaine thinks he would've warned him, given that this felt like he was standing defenseless in front of the fucking fire squad.

"Well thank you for the stereotype, _Artie_," Blaine said sarcastically. "Now, if we're done here-"

"Look, we tried being nice, but dude we're not asking you anymore. Back off." Finn said, his voice rising in frustration, his face turning red. "We all know the only thing you want from him."

"You know _nothing_ about our relationship." Blaine said cuttingly. He glared at Finn through narrowed eyes, almost daring him to say something. He was so _beyond _sick of assholes coming in and assuming they knew him; that they knew anything about him.

Finn accepted the dare. "Oh yeah?" he challenged. "Because we know that Kurt might actually like you and you obviously don't even care about him."

Blaine's blood was boiling, he could feel himself going red with anger, his hands were shaking with rage. "I don't care about him?" he asked sharply, doing his best to refrain from yelling.

"No you don't; you don't care about anything! You don't care about school, or anything. Why would you care about Kurt? Have you ever cared about anything?"

Blaine threw his bag on the bench in front of him aside and stepped his foot up on it, bending his face so close to Finn's their noses almost touched. "Let me paint you a picture." He nearly growled, his voice deadly.

"Have you ever been with someone who has leukemia? It's long, and painful, and not pretty. That was all of last year for me. My mom was diagnosed with stage four at the beginning of last year. My dad bailed as soon as we got the news, and I didn't care. He didn't give two shits about me or my mom. And mom was so sick, I didn't have the time to care." His eyes stayed resolutely trained on Finn's, he could almost feel the guys shrinking back. It was just something about cancer, he guessed.

"I thought, if I listened to the doctor, and did everything he told me to, she'd get better. So I dropped out of school and got a job. Hell, I got three. Do you think I wanted to? Fuck no. I had perfect grades, I participated in everything, I _liked_ school. But I did it because to pay for treatment since my mom couldn't."

Blaine moved his head away from Finn and looked around from everyone else, all of them looking nervous, uncomfortable. "And _maybe_, I wear this piece of shit jacket, because it's the only thing I have left of my piece of shit dad. And _maybe_, I have my ears pierced so I don't ever lose my mom's favorite piece of jewelry in the world. _Maybe_ I don't care about your stupid, high school _shit_ anymore, because there comes a point when you physically can't care anymore, because everything about it hurts too much." His voice was sharp and cutting, he could see them practically flinching every time he swore or enunciated to adequately communicate his vexation.

The guys stared in with their eyes wide, none of them moving at all. Blaine rolled his eyes. "You know, when I got here, everyone told me to avoid you guys, and your fucking glee club, like the plague. That you were the biggest bunch of losers in the world, but you accepted everyone. Not the case, huh. But you know what? I'm done. I don't think I need to take any more of this crap, and I don't think I need to spend any more time with you walking dildos."

Blaine snatched up his bag roughly, gripping it so tight his knuckles were going white. He made his way to the door, stopping in the doorway before turning around and saying, "You guys think you're so much better than everyone because you're better people… Well, I hate to break it to you; you are just as shitty people as everyone else in this hellhole of a school." 


	7. I'm Always Gonna Wanna Blow Your Mind

The next couple days weren't fun for anyone. The guys in glee club had to explain why Blaine hadn't been seen around the school or half of their classes with any explanation whatsoever, Kurt was miserable, and Finn felt awful. It was sort of his fault. 

He didn't tell them exactly what they were talking to Blaine about, because he wasn't sure he was ready for him and Kurt to have that conversation, but everyone got the gist of things; they treated Blaine like an ass, so he acted like an ass.

It really sucked seeing Kurt though. He looked concerned all through glee club the afternoon after the incident, since Blaine clearly wasn't responding to his texts, and he kept checking his phone. Then to make Finn's week worse, there were the stupid Christmas decorations all over the school whose joy just seemed ironic, plus Rachel, still on his case to get back together.

It was worse the next morning; Finn was at his locker, swapping some books out when he saw Kurt walk by. He watched him walk over to Blaine, who was looking very unhappy, taking textbooks out of his locker. Finn was a little ways down from them, so he couldn't hear the conversation, but Blaine didn't make eye contact the whole time, and left quickly, without even looking back at Kurt. Finn had to look away as Kurt started back down the hallway, but in the brief second he saw him, he could see the hurt on his face.

Even though Blaine seemed equally as miserable as Kurt, and he probably hated Finn and the rest of the glee guys, he was actually backing off. Finn was definitely surprised, but it was actually making him feel worse. Because, what if it meant he actually did care about Kurt? And maybe he thought Kurt _did_ want the guys to talk to him?

He knew he had to at least try and fix things, though there were a few problems. Kurt didn't know why Blaine was ignoring him, and would be pissed when he found out why he was, the only time Finn really saw Blaine was after school getting ready for football, as he beat the crap out of a punching bag. Call him crazy for not wanting to talk to him then.

But when Friday came, and Kurt and Blaine still hadn't talked to each other, he decided it was time to do something. It had been three days since the incident, in which time he felt like a terrible person, Kurt was miserable, Blaine was miserable, and Finn realized maybe they played a bigger part in each other's lives than he thought.

He told coach Bieste he was going to be a little late, and when he told her the short version of what happened, she agreed to give him five minutes. So he got dressed with the rest of the team, but hung back until only he and Blaine were in the locker room.

He hesitantly walked over to Blaine, and stopped a yard or so away and waited for a moment. Blaine had to have known he was there, but he didn't say anything, or acknowledge him.

"Can we talk?" Finn asked finally, feeling his minutes ticking away.

Blaine didn't do or say anything for a moment before he eventually turned away from the bag. "What?" he snapped.

Finn blanked. He had thought out all these things to say about it, but now that he was faced with Blaine and his fierce gold eyes glaring up at him, he forgot all of it.

Blaine rolled his eyes and went back to the bag. "What do you want?" Blaine asked impatiently.

"I wanted to apologize." Finn said. Blaine gave his bag one final blow before turning back to Finn with his arms crossed over his chest, and a total bitch-face. "We shouldn't've intervened the other day, it wasn't our place and we're all sorry."

Blaine uncrossed his arms and started taking off his boxing gloves. "So what is it that made you apologize? Was it Kurt? Or Rachel, or maybe –"

"Me," Finn interrupted. "I'm apologizing because of me. Well, actually because of you." Blaine looked at Finn with a cocked eyebrow. "I saw you and Kurt the other morning. And I've seen you both around a bit."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "No frigging way," he said sarcastically. "It's almost as if we go to the same school."

Finn took a deep breath and continued. "I shouldn't've said all that stuff the other day. None of us should have. You were right about some things: Kurt doesn't need protecting, we didn't know anything about you guys' relationship, and we were wrong to assume anything just because of how you dress."

Blaine gripped his hair in a tight fist and scrunched up his face before he exploded. "What is the matter with you?!" he yelled, looking Finn straight in the eye. "Why would you ever involve yourself in someone else's love life?!"

Finn shrugged, shuffling his feet. "It's kind of just what we do in glee club-"

"It's ridiculous!" he interrupted. "_You're _ridiculous." His entire forehead wrinkled in distress. "Finn, I'm friggin' _crazy_ about your brother, and you just messed everything up-!"

Finn glanced down at his feet anxiously. Yeah… he really stepped in it. He could only imagine how being bitched out by Kurt's gonna be…

"Are you even listening?!" Finn's head snapped up when that key phrase hit his ears. "Jesus Christ, you want to apologize and you're not even fucking _listening_." Blaine shook his head incredulously, his eyebrows really pointy and dangerously high on his forehead.

"Sorry, sorry," Finn stammered. "Keep yelling, I'm listening."

Blaine collapsed on the bench behind him, rubbing his hands tiredly over his face. He took a deep breath and unwrapped the tape on his knuckles. "Look, Finn," he sighed, "I don't know what you want. You involved yourself in something entirely not your business, and you come in to apologize but you don't even listen to my response-" he broke off in frustration, rubbing his face again.

Finn rocked on his heels. "I'm sorry, dude, and I'll be honest, I don't know what you want from me." He said plainly. "If you want to kick my ass, or just shame me or something, it's really hard to pick up a vibe off of you."

Blaine rubbed his temples in aggravation before flicking his eyes up at Finn again. "What I need, is for you to never get involved in my life again. Never, ever again."

"I can't." god, Finn did _not _want to say that, more than he didn't want to talk to Kurt, he did not want to refuse Blaine something when it looked like steam could be blowing out his ears. "I can't just not do anything man, even after today, I'm gonna have to get in your face at least once in a while. Kurt's my brother now, and man, he really digs you." Blaine's eyes softened and Finn felt slightly more encouraged to continue. "You're in his life now, you gotta be in mine."

Blaine looked at him for a long moment before he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair again. "Finn, I'll be honest," he started. "You suck. Seriously, you make me want to shove my entire hand into a food processor and set it to high. And I still think you're one of the biggest tools on the _planet_-" he sort of deserved that, but Blaine still took a really, really long time to keep going. "But you're not a _bad guy_. I know bad guys, and you're not one of them. You just suck."

"So you don't hate me?" Finn asked, caught somewhere between hopefulness and confusion, because seriously, Blaine was worse than Rachel with mixed messages, and _that _was saying something.

Blaine shook his head. "I don't hate you. You're kind of hateable, but I hate one person, and that's my father, so it's understandable. And this week, I definitely hated you, but…" he shrugged, glancing up at Finn again.

Finn grinned and Blaine half smirked. "Does this mean you'll come to my house tonight to straighten things out with Kurt? I'll take the blame, but we both know he'll want to talk to you too." he asked hopefully.

Blaine looked away evasively. "I'm not so sure about that; I've kind of been an ass to Kurt the past couple days, I don't think he'd want-"

"Dude. He wants you there." Finn said firmly, cutting Blaine off yet again. Blaine looked confused and he said, "You two have been super sad all week. He wants you there. But an apology might help."

Blaine looked at him widely, but Finn wasn't sure it was much different than how his eyes usually looked. "I'm not big on apologies." he muttered.

"Time to get big. I'll talk to him when I get home, and I'll tell him what we said and whatever. You can come over at like, sevenish, to apologize. Only if you like Kurt, that is." he added with a smirk. "Do you like him?"

It took a long moment for Blaine to answer, long enough for Finn to think he wasn't going to respond. But when he did, it was so quiet Finn strained to hear him.

"I'm crazy about him."

Finn wasn't expecting that. He knew Blaine totally liked Kurt, but that was a much more personal response, and Blaine hadn't really _talked _to him before. They talked, but they didn't _talk_, about stuff like Blaine's extremely obvious crush on Kurt, they talked about football and their math class.

Finn stared at him for a second too long and Blaine rolled his eyes. "Well, cool man," Finn hurried to say. "He likes you too."

Blaine's lips pursed and Finn's brow furrowed. It should be a good thing, right?

"Was he really upset this week, because of me?" Blaine asked, his voice slightly higher in pitch, grunting like he was trying to hide it.

"Yeah, dude," Finn responded immediately. "He really cares about you, man."

Blaine didn't respond. He just picked his bag up off the floor and threw it onto his shoulder.

"Are you okay, dude?" Finn asked.

Blaine nodded. "Yeah. It's just been a while since anyone's cared about me."

And with that, he left. Finn wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It wasn't a good thing that people didn't care about Blaine, or he didn't think people cared about him, but it could've been someone worse than Kurt caring about him.

**?!****  
**  
Finn got home after football practice, and saw his mom in the kitchen making dinner, and Burt in the recliner watching football. He said hello to his mom and walked to the stairs when Burt called him.

"Hey kid, you want to watch the game? Second half is just starting." Burt offered, nodding to the TV as the newscasters replayed the first half.

"Maybe after; I have to talk to Kurt." he responded.

"Hey, what's up with him?" Burt asked, stopping Finn from going up the stairs again. "He's seemed pretty down the past couple days."

Finn sort of shrugged. "It's kind of my fault."

Burt raised his eyebrows and Finn sighed. "I sort of said some dumb things to someone Kurt was close to, and then he sort of started avoiding Kurt without explanation because of what I said. So he's coming over later to apologize to Kurt, but first I have to tell Kurt why it all started, and then Kurt's probably gonna yell at me."

Burt took a long swig of beer once Finn finished talking. "So it's about a boy." he deduced. It seemed to Finn like that was all he took from that conversation.

Finn nodded. "Do I know him?" Burt asked, his protective father coming out at the mention of any boys Kurt might be involved with.

"It's Blaine."

Burt looked neither more comforted nor more concerned at the name. "It could be someone worse." he muttered at last.

Finn snorted. "Really? I was expecting you to start going on about his piercings, or his tattoo, or something."

Burt seemed to deliberate for a moment. "Kid's had a hard life." he decided before turning his attention back to the TV as the second half started.

Finn thought about that the whole walk upstairs. He took a deep breath once he reached Kurt's door, and knocked tentatively. Kurt's soft voice told him to enter, so he opened the door and saw him lying on his bed, surrounded by homework.

He looked up and saw Finn, before looking back down at his papers. "What do you need, Finn?"

"I need to talk to you." Finn said immediately.

Kurt sighed and closed his textbook and sat up to give Finn his attention. "What?"

Finn paused, and tried to think of a way to explain without sounding like the worst brother in the world. Kurt impatiently raised his eyebrow, and Finn decided to avoid the topic. "Are you feeling okay? You don't look too great."

Kurt rubbed his face in a clear sign of exhaustion. "I'm fine, just trying to balance my energy between a glee club who plays wild favoritism, the homework of three AP classes, a father who refuses to start taking care of his health without me ridding the house of anything unhealthy, and a best friend who's been ignoring me for days with no explanation whatsoever."

"Well I can help you with one of those." Finn offered. Kurt have Finn a pondering look. "It's the Blaine thing."

Kurt's cheek flushed slightly at the title 'the Blaine thing', but Finn continued as if he hadn't noticed. "I know why he's been ignoring you all week."

Kurt narrowed his eyes at Finn, and Finn swallowed nervously. "Just hear me out, okay?" he asked. Kurt rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Well, none of us knew Blaine that well, and he was kind of all over you at the party, and-"

"Who's we?" Kurt asked.

"The glee guys minus Puck, now no interrupting. So anyway, we kind of were thinking he was trying to take advantage of you or something," Kurt's eyebrows raised dangerously high, and Finn started fearing for his safety. "And we went to talk to him. We meant for it to be friendly, but it sort of came out as us demanding him to leave you alone, and he started saying about how you didn't need us to take care of you, and then we tried again, and he kind of exploded on us. He started getting in our faces, and called us 'walking dildos', and started talking about his mom-"

"He told you about mom?" Kurt interrupted.

Finn nodded slowly and Kurt let out a sigh. "He doesn't talk to anyone about his mom." he said before adding "Besides me, he'd never told anyone at McKinley what happened to her."

A whole new wave of guilt ran over Finn. "Anyways, so he told us were just as narrow-minded as the rest of the school, and the reason he wasn't talking to you at all because he thought maybe you did want us to say all that stuff-"

Finn stopped talking as Kurt stood off of his bed and walked closer to him. Finn backed out of his room, and Kurt got to the doorway before he said, "Never, no matter how badly you think I need it, get involved in my love life again."

Finn gulped before the rest of the sentence registered in his mind. "Wait, love life-"

He didn't get the full sentence out as Kurt slammed the door in his face. Finn stared at the door for a moment, the wood inches from his face, before walking downstairs and sitting down next to Burt to watch the game. Dinner was soon after, so Finn went up to tell Kurt, and came down just as quickly, as to not have to see him.

The four of them took their usual seats at the table, and Finn checked the time. Blaine should be over in half an hour. He ate dinner without saying anything, and Kurt didn't say anything either. Finn kept sneaking looks at him across the table, and thought he was being so sneaky Kurt hadn't noticed, but that was proven wrong when he looked over as Kurt took a bite of his dinner, and he kicked him in the shin.

Burt and Carole tried to keep a steady conversation flowing, but it was hard when half of the table weren't saying a single word, aside from an occasional 'ow' from Finn when Kurt caught him staring and kicked him under the table.

After an awkward lapse in conversation between Burt and Carole, and a particularly long stare from Finn, Kurt said, "Oh my god, Finn, what do you want?"

The adults looked at him in surprise, and Finn ducked his head and mumbled "Nothing."

"Then stop staring at my like I'm a zoo animal!" Kurt snapped, his cold eyes finally making contact with Finn.

"Kurt," Burt said in a warning voice. Kurt just kept eating. Finn peeked at Kurt guiltily and kept eating. No one said anything for the rest of dinner.

Kurt finished quickly after that, and rinsed his plate in the sink before going back up to his room. Finn was the last one at the table, and when he'd gotten up to rinse his plate, someone rang the doorbell, and Finn saw it was about seven thirty. He half ran over to the door, and opened it to see Blaine, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"He's in his room." Finn said, stepping back to let Blaine in. Blaine stepped inside the house and quickly went upstairs, leaving Finn to sigh to himself, "_Finally_."

**?!****  
**  
Blaine pulled into 415 Whitman Drive and saw it was only seven thirty. He didn't want to get to Kurt's on time (seven), because he didn't want to show up in the middle of dinner or during Finn's talk with him, so he elected for seven thirty. Of course, the drive was mildly terrifying given he was definitely over the speed limit, _and_ it was snowing.

He knocked on the front door before he could change his mind, and it was opened by Finn, who quickly said, "He's in his room."

Blaine walked past him and smiled at Burt and Carole in the living room before getting to Kurt's door. He knocked lightly, and Kurt called for him to come in, so he slowly opened the door and saw Kurt, lying on his bed, wearing a shirt that was too large and revealed his pale shoulders, reading.

He looked over and jumped at the sight of Blaine. Blaine gave him a weak smile and walked into the room, shutting the door lightly behind him. He stepped out of his shoes and Kurt sat up and brushed his hair out of his eyes, setting down his book.

Blaine felt his chest tighten when he looked at Kurt. He felt breathless. He hadn't seen Kurt since Tuesday. Other than Facebook stalking him, but that didn't count. God, he missed Kurt. It was like how you realize how hungry you are once food's in front of you; you knew before you were hungry, but once you got your food, it was like you'd never eaten before in your life.

He didn't say anything as he sat on the edge of Kurt's bed and stared at him. Kurt didn't say anything either, and just stared back. Blaine scratched the back of his neck and muttered, "Hi."

"Oh, so you're talking to me?" Blaine flinched at his words, but he knew he deserved them. "I'm sorry, I know why you did it." Kurt sighed.

Blaine moved closer to him. "Don't apologize, I definitely deserve it. What did Finn tell you?"

Kurt looked up and met Blaine's eyes. "He told me he and the guys told you to back off, and you weren't thrilled about it. He also said you called them 'walking dildos.'"

Blaine bit his lip to hide his smile, but looked up and saw Kurt smiling at him. "What interested me the most, though… you told them about your mom?"

Blaine's smile faded. "Yeah. I didn't really mean to, it just slipped out." He met Kurt's eyes again. "I'm so sorry."

Kurt took Blaine's hand and held onto it. "It's okay. I know why you did it."

"That doesn't mean I should have." Blaine mumbled.

"Yes, but I care a lot more about the fact that you're here now."

Blaine's shoulders slumped and he pouted at Kurt as he asked, "So you're not mad?"

Kurt shook his head. "I was never mad. I was just concerned. About you, if something happened to you, or it I did something-"

"You thought this was your fault?" Blaine interrupted. Kurt didn't give him an answer and Blaine scooted closer to him and said, "Kurt, you're perfect."

Kurt's cheeks flooded with color, and Blaine smiled at them, because he was the one to put that splash of pink on his skin. "I'm not perfect." he mumbled.

"You know you are," Blaine said with a grin.

Kurt shrugged and said, "I don't know, this week I couldn't help but think I did something. I mean, we went from half-drunken making out at a party on Friday and spending the weekend together, to ignoring me Wednesday morning. I thought you might've changed your mind about not caring that I don't want to have sex, or something. Decided I wasn't worth the effort."

That hurt Blaine's heart, because in his mind, Kurt was worth more than anything Blaine could give him, and he was upset he thought any less. "Kurt," Blaine said, making him look at him again. "I'm never going to just decide I don't like you because of something like that."

"You like me?"

In Blaine's mind, he had two options: lie, and make up some crap excuse for the wording, or say 'as a friend' and destroy the chances of ever having any kind of non-platonic thing with Kurt, or two, admit to Kurt he had real feelings for him and ask him out or something.

"Yeah." he said, his mouth forming the words before his brain approved it. "I do. I like you quite a bit."

Kurt grew a smile Blaine hadn't seen before. He showed his teeth. Blaine grinned back at him before he could help himself, and Kurt took his hand.

"Then you should know, that I like you too." he murmured softly. Blaine inched closer to him and Kurt pushed Blaine's dark curls off of his forehead, letting his fingers linger for a second longer than they needed to.

Blaine snatched Kurt's hand in his own and laced their fingers together. It felt extraordinarily natural, which was weird to him, because it wasn't like he and Kurt held hands all the time, it just felt like they should.

He looked up at Kurt, and saw his eyes peering down at their hands, an almost childlike zeal in them that Blaine hadn't seen before.

He took a moment to really look over Kurt and his features. From the first time he saw Kurt, he thought he was attractive, and oddly compelling. But he'd never fully seen how remarkable his looks were. The blond highlights in his hair that he could only see in direct light, and the small, light freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks, and the perfect angle of his nose. The way his lips were always in a perfect little pout and the way his eyelashes fanned across his cheeks. The dimples he got whenever he smiled, and the unforgettable glow of his eyes.

He placed a finger under Kurt's chin, and Kurt lifted his head to see Blaine's eyes for barely a second before their lips were touching. The kiss was gentle, and soft, and Blaine felt Kurt's shock quickly melt into something quite different.

Blaine hands cupped Kurt's face, and felt something strange stirring inside him. He wasn't going to start going on about true love like the girl in every book with a focus group of teenage girls, but it felt like something was changing. And it was.

Blaine wasn't gentle, he wasn't patient, or cautious. So why was he kissing Kurt with a sort of tenderness he'd never felt for anyone before? Blaine was selfish and bitter. So why was he so willing to give and give up any thing for this boy, including ever getting laid? Blaine wasn't sweet or romantic. So why was this boy making him want to start buying him flowers, and leaving cute notes in his locker, or surprising him with extravagant dates? Blaine was self-deprecating and he didn't think he was worth a damn. So why was this boy able to make him feel important again just with a little kiss, or a touch of the fingertips?

Kurt started to pull his lips back, but Blaine chased them, not wanting to feel his lips untangled from Kurt's. Slowly, he and Kurt leaned backward until Kurt was lying on top of his pillows, with Blaine hovering above him.

He started to wonder about all of it. About him, and Kurt, and how he felt about Kurt, because those thoughts were all pretty scrambled. Because he liked Kurt, but no, he didn't, he couldn't like him. He wanted to be with Kurt, but no, he didn't, Blaine didn't do relationships.

But instead of trying to figure it out, he allowed himself to simply forget about it, and focus all his efforts into kissing Kurt. Kurt was a really good kisser. This was sort of surprising to him, because he knew he'd never had a boyfriend, or even a flame.

"Where'd you learn to kiss like this?" Blaine mumbled against his lips.

Kurt smiled and captured Blaine's lips in another kiss before he breathed, "Brittany."

Blaine started precariously placing kisses along Kurt's neck and jaw. "What?"

"I tried being straight for my dad last year, and I dated Brittany for a day and a half." Kurt answered as Blaine started sucking on his clavicle.

"Nope," he said, pushing Blaine's face away from his collar bone. "No hickeys, or my dad will kill you."

Blaine made a high pitch whine, but Kurt ignored it and started kissing his way down Blaine's neck. "You're no fun." he complained.

Kurt nipped at Blaine's skin and responded. "Well if I'm no fun, maybe you should find someone else to make out with."

"Nooo," Blaine moaned, "I want to make out with _you_."

Kurt grinned and murmured, "Well, I want to make out with you too. But my dad will kill me, and kill you if I have a hickey."

Kurt brought his lips back to Blaine's and without a word, rolled them over so he was on top of Blaine, straddling his hips.

He knew it was a little weird he was so easily willing to make out with Blaine again right after they made up after a week of Blaine ignoring him, and before that, not wanting anything physical with him. Maybe it was just being Blaine-free for a week that made him want him so much more. They say you always want what you can't have.

"Why didn't you ask me?" Kurt asked suddenly, muttering around Blaine's eager lips. "I mean, ask if I wanted the guys to talk to you."

Blaine shrugged and Kurt rested a few inches above him, his forearms on Blaine's chest. "I figured if you wanted it."

"But… but you knew I liked you." He murmured. "You knew then how I felt about you."

Blaine breathed out of his nose, gazing at Kurt's face peacefully, his eyes unintentionally stooping to Kurt's lips. "Yes, well, the thing about you, Mr. Hummel," Blaine started slowly, "Is as much as I would _love _to be able to read you, and predict your next move…" he glanced up at Kurt's eyes again, flickering between the two of them. "You always zig right when I think you're about to zag."

Kurt grinned. "Good," he murmured. "I'm glad I'm not as transparent as I feel I am in front of you."

Blaine sighed, brushing his hair through Kurt's bangs. "I'm not. I'd love to know what you're always thinking about. It'd make things a lot easier."

Kurt smiled and nudged his nose against Blaine's. "You want to know what I'm thinking right now?" Blaine just smiled lazily, his eyes flickering down to Kurt's lips again, making his heartbeat stutter. "I'm thinking… that I'd love it if you kissed me right now."

The boy underneath him grinned and he leaned up just enough to touch his lips to Kurt's softly, tugging Kurt's bottom lip with his teeth. Blaine hummed into his lips. Thank god Kurt hadn't given up on him. The last week had been one of the worst of Blaine's _life_ without Kurt being there. There was just something about this boy that made Blaine want to stay with him forever, and be with him forever.

He wasn't even sure why. Why being away from Kurt was infinitely worse than being away from anyone else. Why without Kurt, Blaine was a completely different person. Why he blushed when someone mentioned Kurt. Why he always felt like he was just punched in the gut whenever he saw Kurt walking down the hall-

Holy shit. Blaine was falling for Kurt, wasn't he?

**?!**

Blaine didn't leave until around nine, when Finn walked in and left in a haste when he saw them making out on the bed. The kind of making out that was moany, and half-grinding, and probably scarring for Finn to witness.

That's when they took a break long enough to check the time and realize how late it was.

Kurt didn't walk him downstairs because he didn't want his dad to see his cherry red kissed lips, or messy hair, especially not the suspicious little red marks on his neck. So they simply said goodbye at his bedroom door.

"I'll see you on Monday?" Kurt inquired.

Blaine paused for a moment. "Do you want to come over tomorrow? John's not going to be home till tomorrow night, I'd love for you to meet Mary and the kids."

Kurt grinned. "I'd love to."

"Yeah?" Blaine sounded more surprised than Kurt particularly liked, but he had to remind himself Blaine hadn't remotely opened up to people since his mom died. 

He pecked him on the lips. "Yeah."

Blaine smiled and held onto Kurt's hands. "Come over whenever." He said to him. "I'll be home."

Kurt nodded and looked down at their hands shyly, biting his lower lip trying not to smile too big. "I'll be there as soon as I can." He murmured. Blaine leaned towards him, standing on his toes to press his lips to Kurt's again before walking downstairs to leave.

When Blaine turned the corner and was out-of-sight, Kurt shut his door and pressed his back against it, grinning widely. He heard Blaine's motorcycle rev outside and he jumped back off the door and to his closet; big day tomorrow, he needed a nice outfit.

**?!****  
**  
Kurt got to Blaine's house around noon the next day and rang the doorbell. He wanted to leave earlier, but his dad made him wait for the roads to be plowed again before he left. He took a small step back as the door was opened.

Kurt stared ahead blankly for a second before he looked down at who opened the door. It was a girl, who looked around six, with long, messy, dark hair, standing in fuzzy pink pajamas. She stared at Kurt for a moment before she grinned widely, showing her sort of crooked white teeth, just like Blaine's.

"Are you Blaine's boyfriend?" She asked excitedly, bouncing on her heels. "Curd?"

Kurt flushed and corrected her, paying special attention to the t. Boyfriend, huh?

She repeated it. "Blaine talks about you a lot. Not when daddy's home, but still a lot." The corners of Kurt's mouth turned upward and he tried not to get overly pleased that Blaine was talking about him with his family. "My name's Rosheen, but you can call me Rosie, only mommy calls me Rosheen."

Kurt smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you, Rosie."

"Rosie!" A boy came hurtling toward the door, a boy who must've been an inch or two shorter than Rosie, stopped abruptly when he saw Kurt. Strikingly different than Blaine and Rosie, he was almost as pale as Kurt, and had straight, lighter brown hair, but the same deep hazel eyes.

He grinned at him, and Kurt noticed he was missing his two front teeth. "You're _him_. Right?"

"I think so?" Kurt responded, confusion and glee fighting for dominance in his expression.

The boy laughed and looked at Rosie and said, "Let him in!" He shoved her out of the way and grabbed Kurt's wrist and pulled him inside the house, closing the door behind him. "I'm Ben."

"Hi, Ben-"

Blaine came clambering down the stairs, pulling a red belt through the loops of his jeans. He grinned at Kurt as he came down the stairs and kissed him on the cheek. Ben and Rosie both giggled loudly and Blaine hushed them.

"I guess you met the kids." He surmised, grinning at Kurt with excitement in his eyes.

Rosie answered in place of Kurt. "You were right, B. He _is_ cute."

Blaine flushed bright red and Kurt laughed with Ben. "Okay," he said. "I think that's enough out of you two."

Blaine took Kurt's hand and pulled him into the kitchen, but the kids followed.

"Where's your mama?" Blaine asked as he sat Kurt beside Ben and Rosie on a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Upstairs." Rosie answered. "She's finishing getting ready."

"Mommy!" Ben yelled in the direction of the stairwell. "Kurt's here!"

There was more clamoring down the stairs and a woman stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. She was beautiful. Her dark curls were pulled up messily in a bun on top of her head; her skinned seemed to glow in the omnipresent lighting pouring out of the entrance. Even in her ratty overalls she was beautiful, her face aged with laugh lines at the corners of her eyes and her freckles contradicting an otherwise creamy complexion.

She grinned a big, toothy grin and said, "Kurt, it's so nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you."

"Mary," Blaine said in a whiny tone.

"What?" she said defensively. "It's true."

Kurt smiled over at Blaine, and his grin grew wider when he saw Blaine was blushing.

"So Kurt," Mary said to him. She sat down at a seat opposite him and said, "Tell me about yourself. I want to know every dirty little secret my little boy's getting himself involved in."

"Okay, first of all," Blaine said before Kurt could finish blushing, "I'm not your little boy, I'm not your boy at all." Mary rolled her eyes to Kurt. "Besides, Kurt doesn't have to tell you anything about himself, and neither of us said anything about involvement."

She snorted. "Whatever you say, sweetheart," she brushed him off in that condescending, _I know better than you _voice that only parents can manage. "Kurt doesn't mind, does he?"

Kurt saw Blaine shaking his head behind his aunt's back and Kurt smirked proudly at him and said, "I don't mind at all."

Blaine groaned and she said, "Stop your groaning and make yourself useful, would you?"

"Blainey, make lunch!" Rosie cheered excitedly.

"Lunch, lunch, lunch," Ben started chanting beside her.

Mary turned to Blaine with a grin taking up her face. "The people have spoken."

Blaine shot her a very ugly look and said, "Fine."

Mary turned back to Kurt with a proud smile and said, "Okay, as I was saying, what's your story, Kurt?"

Kurt scratched the back of his neck and said, "I'm not sure there _is _much a story. Not yet anyways."

"Well that's not true," Blaine said with his back turned to them, working at the stove.

"Excuse me, mister; I believe I asked for an _auto_biography." She said to him.

Ben and Rosie giggled and Blaine didn't respond. Kurt smiled at Mary and said, "Well you certainly know how to keep him grounded."

She winked at him and said, "I do my best."

"Kurt," Rosie said, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. "You're really pretty for a boy."

Blaine chuckled and Kurt looked at his back and said, "You're jealous you're not really pretty for a boy." He turned to Rosie with a genuine smile, "Thank you, Rosie."

"So tell me," Mary started. "How was Blaine granted the pleasure of your company?"

"School. We were assigned a project together, so we got to know each other pretty well." He explained easily.

"Oh, that's very sweet - Ben, shirt down." Mary said. Kurt looked at the boy who had pulled is shirt up over his head for no reason.

"I want lunch!" he whined.

Right on cue, Blaine turned around and started passing around plastic bowls of Kraft mac and cheese. Ben and Rosie dug in immediately, and Blaine handed a bowl to his aunt before sitting down beside Kurt, passing him a bowl as well.

"Well aren't we classy," he teased as Mary pulled a bib around Ben's neck.

Blaine just poked him in the side and started eating. Mary was too busy fighting the bib onto Ben, so Rosie turned to them for attention. "What's your favorite color?" she asked Kurt.

Before he got a chance to answer, she asked, "What's your favorite movie? No – who's your favorite princess?"

Blaine shot Kurt a sympathetic look, but he smiled and answered, "I love the color blue, and the musical Rent, and my favorite princess is Ariel."

Rosie's eyes lit up. "Momma, can we watch _The Little Mermaid_?!" she asked excitedly.

"Maybe later, hon." Mary said dismissively, sitting back down beside the pouting Ben.

"But, mom!" Rosie whined loudly.

"Hon, don't you want to watch a Christmas movie?" Mary asked, looking back up at her daughter.

"But mommy, Ariel's Kurt's _favorite _princess!"

"Well than what choice do we have?" Mary asked playfully. "After lunch, okay, sweetie?"

Rosie nodded and started eating faster. Blaine leaned close to Kurt's ear and whispered, "I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into."

Kurt laughed and ate his lunch without saying much else. As soon as Mary gave the okay, Rosie jumped out of her seat and pulled Kurt, who pulled Blaine, into the family room.

Rosie sat beside Kurt on the couch as Blaine put in the disc. Ben meandered in and sat down on the other side of Rosie, clutching what Blaine informed him was "Ben's movie blanket." Blaine started the movie and dimmed the lights before climbing onto the couch beside Kurt and wrapping an arm snug around Kurt's waist. Kurt leaned into him and pulled is feet up on the couch and rested his chin on his knees.

Watching The Little Mermaid with Blaine's cousins was one of the cutest things he'd experienced in his life. Ben and Rosie sang along to every song word for word, not caring when they were sharp or flat, or just singing the wrong lyrics. Blaine hummed along as well, but didn't sing, despite Kurt's protests. Rosie convinced Kurt to sing with her on a few of the songs, and Blaine quoted several parts of the movie with Ben, imitating the voices and everything.

More than once, Kurt would turn his head and press his lips to Blaine's when there wasn't a big scene or musical number, but every time Rosie would pat Kurt's leg and ask, "Are you still watching?"

Mary walked in a few times, in between doing loads of laundry and working on her laptop and smiled at them, pressing a kiss onto her kid's heads, or combing through Blaine's curls. She'd never stay long, just long enough to make Kurt's heart warm by her cute gestures she made to her kids, or the smiles she directed at him.

By the time they neared the end of the film, Rosie was out cold, drooling on herself, Ben was on the brink of sleep, sniffling and stuttering as unconsciousness came over him. At some point, Kurt had thrown his legs over Blaine's and laid his head on his chest, with Blaine's arms wrapped tighter around him, though for the last fifteen minutes or so, they'd given up the pretense of watching the movie and were kissing rather passionately for having two kids next to them.

Kurt pulled back first, pressing a few more kisses on Blaine's face. "I'm glad I came over today," he murmured.

Blaine smiled and hummed his agreement. "Me too. It's been a good day." He mumbled. He hesitated before he said, "I really missed you. When we weren't talking, I… yeah. I missed you."

"I missed you too." Kurt said, kissing him softly. "I should probably get going though, my dad wants me home before dinner tonight."

"Kurt," Blaine moaned. "You're going to leave me all afternoon with the aftermath of watching Disney movies in the middle of the day?"

Kurt chuckled and pressed a kiss onto Blaine's jaw. "I'll see you Monday."

"Monday's so far away," he whined.

"Well, maybe if you're lucky, I'll invite you over tomorrow." Kurt said, whispering into Blaine's ear to get his point across. "You know, Finn'll be the only one home. I bet if I told him I wasn't feeling well, he'd leave me alone _all day_." Blaine moaned softly into his skin. "And it's almost holiday break. We can spend so much time together."

Blaine let out a bitter laugh. "Actually we _can't_."

"What? Why?" Kurt asked, scooting more so he was actually in Blaine's lap.

"John and Mary booked themselves a cruise to the Bahamas for their anniversary, and when Ben and Rose found out they cried for an entire day, so they decided to bring them. And then they decided to bring _me_, because Mary, for some bizarre reason, thought I _wouldn't _like the house to myself for a week, and John wants me to baby-sit his kids." Blaine explained, running his hands over Kurt's back.

Kurt sighed. "Well that sucks." He mumbled. "I mean, have fun on your cruise, but…" he trailed off vaguely.

"Well," Blaine said, shifting and holding Kurt slightly further away so it was easier to talk to him. "I have two days between when school gets out and when I leave, and we get back the thirtieth, really late. So that means two days before I'm gone, and then New Year's day, and the end of New Year's Eve."

"Yeah, well you know cruises, you might not get back until the end of New Year's, and I won't see you until school starts." Kurt said sardonically.

"Why do you have to be so disagreeable?" Blaine asked.

Kurt just smiled and slid off of his lap. "I seriously have to go, my dad wants me home and it's supposed to start snowing again soon."

Blaine stood up with him and walked him to the front door, helping Kurt with his coat. Kurt slipped on his boots and turned to Blaine. "I'll see you on Monday." He said with a smile.

"What happened to tomorrow?" Blaine asked petulantly.

Kurt smiled and brushed Blaine's curls behind his ear. "If you're lucky." He said again before leaning forward. Blaine met him half way and kissed him slowly, not working to deepen the kiss, just enjoying having Kurt's lips on his. Kurt pulled back when he heard another car pull into the driveway. Blaine froze and Kurt asked lowly, "Is that John?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt pecked his lips once more before he said, "Okay, I'll go."

"No, no," Blaine hurried to say, grabbing Kurt's bicep. "We – we shouldn't let him mandate our – our –"

Kurt placed a feather light hand on his face. "Blaine," he said softly. "Don't worry. That's a battle for another day, okay?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt kissed his lips one last time before he opened the door and walked out into the light snow. John must've parked in the garage, because when Kurt got to his car, John's was nowhere in sight, nor was the man himself.

He was very nervous to meet John. It was obvious Blaine was uncomfortable around him, and he knew John wasn't good to Blaine, so he knew he wouldn't like him, so it wasn't unreasonable to not want to meet him. And he'd have to eventually, but he'd had such a good day, he didn't want to spoil it with a man who'd hate him on principal. He sent a quick text to his dad to let him know he was on his way home and got into his car as the snow started picking up.


	8. Gosh,Your Lips Look Delicious

**Reaaaaally frickin' long chapter, sorry. Super recent update, and not beta'd, cause I kinda hurried because I needed a distraction from the fucked up season six spoilers that are absolutely fucking insane. Sorry, I'm angry. If you're not, I think you missed a pretty annoying, bogus, frustrating, stupid-ass fucking spoiler. Ugh. Anyway, enjoy! It's Christmas and New Year's in this universe, so yay! Oh, and I'd love some reviews.**

The last day before break was filled with excitement and joy and the Christmas spirit, to say the least. Kurt thought the hallways of decorations were bad before, they were nothing compared to now. Every surface had a snowflake, or a Christmas ornament, or a randomly placed dreidel, despite coach Sylvester's constant attempts to tear them down, they kept miraculously springing back up. Kurt saw probably a dozen Santa's hats, and it wasn't even first period yet.

"Hey, Kurt." Mercedes said, walking up to him at his locker. "Puck's having a New Year's party, you coming?"

Kurt's nose wrinkled. "Puck's throwing a party? That sounds interesting." He said, checking his hair in his mirror. "Who's going?"

"Probably everyone in the glee club, some football players and cheerios, I don't know." She answered vaguely, waving her hand like it wasn't important.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, cause I _want_ to spend my night with football players and cheerios."

Mercedes nudged his shoulder. "C'mon, you don't have to hang out with them. Hang out with us, and invite your boo."

He shot her a dark look as he closed his locker. "You know he's not my boo. Besides, he might not even be back from vacation yet."

Mercedes shrugged. "Fine, but you should still come. Oh, and we're going to Denny's after to get pumped about Regionals!"

Kurt pantomimed gagging. "If you think going to Denny's will convince me to join you, I'm not sure we're friends." He said dauntingly.

She rolled her eyes as they stepped into their History class. Once class got started, it was clear to Mercedes that Blaine still wasn't there and she asked, "Where's Blaine?"

Kurt checked his phone for messages. "Not sure. I'm guessing he slept in, because he didn't text me this morning."

"He texts you every morning?" she asked dubiously.

Kurt sent Blaine a quick inquiring text and nodded to his friend. "We usually carpool, so yeah. If not, he'll tell me if he's staying home so I can take notes for him."

Mercedes gave him a long look and eventually said, "You sure he's not your boo?"

He rolled his eyes and pulled out last night's homework as Mr. Hanford started walking around to check it. He and Mercedes didn't say much else as their teacher lectured them on something no one listened to for about ten minutes before realizing no one, not even himself, were pretending to care.

Mr. Hanford disappeared for about five minutes or so and came back lugging in the giant DVD player on wheels and a copy of _It's a Wonderful Life, _accompanied with a meek reasoning as to how it relates to history. Not ten minutes into the movie, the door was opened and Blaine walked in, looking very scruffy with an unshaven face and sweatpants. He handed Mr. Hanford a note and took his seat beside Kurt.

"Thanks for texting me," he breathed to Kurt as to not disturb their classmates. "My alarm didn't go off this morning, Mary just dropped me off." He set his travel mug on Kurt's desk. "I brought you hot chocolate."

Kurt accepted the cup which instantly warmed up his hands, breathing in the smell and sending a smile to Blaine. He mouthed at him, "Thank you."

Blaine laid his head down on the table, propped up on his arms to watch the film, inching closer to Kurt. Kurt wished he could thank Blaine with a kiss on the cheek like a normal couple, but they weren't a normal couple, they weren't even a couple. And even though they acted like one sometimes, they had a sort of unspoken agreement to not show PDA in school. Partly because their friends would never leave them alone about it, partly because of all the homophobes.

After class, the boys walked to their usual departing spot and Blaine snuck a kiss on Kurt's cheek before walking the opposite direction as him to his second block class. Second block for both of them were their language classes, so when Kurt went to predictably watch _Joyeux No__ël, _Blaine learned how to sing Christmas songs in Italian.

Then they had lunch together, where they sat with the glee club. The New Directions all sat together and Blaine joined them because, well, _Kurt. _He used to just find a quiet spot by himself, but after he became friends with Kurt and after their huge fight thing after Finn involved himself, he started sitting with them.

He was on his way to lunch when he heard, "Blaine! Blaine, dude!" Puck hurried over to Blaine, shoving kids out of the way to get to him faster. He got up to Blaine and started walking with him. "I'm throwing a party for New Years, you should go. We're starting around dinner time, and you can leave whenever you want, s'long as it's after midnight."

"I don't know, man." he sighed, but before he got out any reasoning, Puck interrupted.

"Dude, you can't keep skipping out on me; besides, your boy's going." He said as Blaine led him into the cafeteria.

"I don't know if I'll be back in time," Puck glowered at him. "Hey, I'm being forced onto a vacation with my fake family, you know I'd rather be there."

Puck sighed and sat down with him at the glee club table. "Whatever, man. Just show up if you can, okay?" Blaine nodded dutifully. He grabbed his lunch out of his bag as others started reaching the table with their lunches. The lines were really long though because it was tater tot day. Honestly, Blaine didn't understand the school's obsession with them at all, but to each their own.

He peered around the cafeteria and saw Kurt in line with Mercedes. Kurt was wonderful. Clearly he thought so, but it was still a little thrilling to hear, because it was still bizarre to him that he and Kurt were like, a _thing_. They were still unofficial and uncertain about what their thing was, but they were back to being happy, so they didn't need to push it. But that's not to say Blaine wouldn't love to actually be _dating _Kurt. Like, being able to hold hands when they walked to class together, and acknowledging that they were very far from being "just friends". He wanted all that a lot, but Blaine's never really sure where he lies with Kurt. he has an idea, but Kurt's so unlike anyone he'd known, he was still learning how to be with him, and how to keep him happy and everything. He wasn't positive a boyfriend was exactly what Kurt needed, or even wanted, and he didn't want to screw them up by asking Kurt to be exclusively, officially with him.

"Lost in thought?" Blaine looked up and saw Mike smiling at him knowingly. "I've been talking at you for like a minute and I'm thinking you weren't aware."

Blaine smirked, turning a little red. "Sorry, man, just… distracted."

"I can tell." Mike assured him. He looked over to where Blaine was staring, spotting Kurt in line. "How are you two?"

Blaine couldn't keep a smile from worming its way onto his face. "Great. Yeah, back to normal." Mike looked at him for a long moment, seeing on his face that Blaine had more to say. "How did you ask out Tina? I mean, you just started making out one day, right?"

"You want to ask out Kurt?" he asked, his eyebrows raising.

"Maybe?" Blaine responded, his cheeks still a little pink. "I just… I don't know if I should. I mean, what do people usually do?"

"Well, when people like each other, they usually start going out," he informed him condescendingly. "Which you already have, and if they still like each other, they usually become a couple. You know, boyfriend/girlfriend. Or boyfriend/boyfriend." When he wasn't given a response, he added gently, "Just ask him out, man. You know he'll say yes."

Blaine pursed his lips, thinking it over. Before he responded, Kurt sat down beside him like he usually did, kissing him on the cheek because no one was looking besides Mike, who just smirked at Blaine. "Thanks for the hot chocolate this morning, I think it's the only thing that kept me awake."

Blaine snorted and dug into his lunch, pulling out one of the gingerbread cookies Ben and Rosie made last night, pushing aside his current thoughts.

"This is for you," he said, handing one to Kurt. It was technically a sugar cookie, it was just shaped like a gingerbread man because Ben's allergic to gingerbread. Rosie designed it, with red frosting for hair and an entirely blue outfit with green polka dots. "Rosie made it, she made me pinky swear I'd give it to you."

"Is it me?" Kurt asked.

"Can't you tell? It looks just like you." Kurt laughed and looked at Blaine, who just shrugged. "She likes you."

"I met her _once_." Kurt pointed out, setting his cookie down on his tray.

"Yeah, and you watched _The Little Mermaid_ with her. I'm pretty sure she likes you more than me right now." Blaine teased, nudging Kurt.

"Are you going to Puck's party New Years? I assume he told you." Kurt said, beginning to eat his lunch.

"I'd _like _to, I'm just not one hundred percent sure I'll be back in Ohio." Blaine responded, eating the Blaine cookie Ben made him.

Kurt was going to respond but before he did, Santana sat down across from them and said loudly, "Hey, gays."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Hello, Satan."

Blaine tried to hide his smile by looking down at his food, but it apparently didn't work, because not a second later Santana kicked his shin under the table.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "Why would you kick me?"

"Santana, don't abuse Blaine."

"I didn't mean to kick _you_, I meant to kick Kurt."

Blaine groaned, holding his probably bruised shin, Kurt patted him on the leg, but didn't move his hand off of his thigh after. That was distracting. But it was also a great opportunity to sneak his hand into Kurt's and hold it under the table. He was pretty sure no one noticed, but it was a little harder to eat his lunch with only one hand.

The only downside to sitting with the glee club, was all they ever talked about was glee club. Kurt, or Mike, or Quinn was always having to keep him up to date or he'd sit there completely silent wondering if they were serious about Brittany still believing in Santa.

After a very lengthy discussion on decorating the choir room again, Kurt turned to Blaine and asked, "Are you doing anything after school today?" Blaine shook his head. "Do you think you could for me after glee club, meet me in the choir room? I want your help with something."

Blaine could see Kurt's eyes lit up with excitement, which often meant mischief. "What do you have planned?" he asked.

Kurt just smiled. "You'll see."

**?!**

Blaine had a bit of time to kill after school, before glee got out, so he just spent time in the weight room, boxing for a while, plugging in his ear buds so he could the meat heads on the football who had nothing better to do but try and give him crap. It worked pretty well, and none of them tried bothering him physically, because they knew Blaine would not hesitate to use them as his new punching bag.

He went into one of the showers when it was nearing the time Kurt was usually done, because he didn't know what Kurt was planning, but he still didn't want to be sweaty and disgusting for it. The problem with showering was he could no longer listen to music to ignore the assholes around him.

It was Karofsky, Azimio, and some kid he was pretty sure was named Chris who were still in there with him. They were tossing around a football, but stopped when they noticed him a few minutes later and saw he was in a position of vulnerability, given he was naked and wet. "Hey, buttboy," Karofsky called to him, walking over.

"Are you thinking about my butt while I'm showering? That's pretty gay, Karofsky." He quipped.

"Enough wisecracking, lady boy." Azimio snapped at him, crossing his arms.

Blaine just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore them, grabbing his soap. It looked like Chris was trying to make them leave, but Karofsky just snapped at him, "Shut it, Strando, don't be such a girl!"

Blaine decided to cut his shower short, wrapping a towel around his waist and shutting the water and pulling on his boxers. Just as he was about to step out of the stall, Karofsky and Azimio stood in the way. He sighed deeply. "Listen, boys, as fun as this is, I'm not really _down_ for an orgy right now, so if you wouldn't mind-" he tried to push past them, but no luck.

Shit. It was going to be one of _those _conversations. It would've been so easy to end it all, but that would've directly involved outing Karofsky, and yeah, Blaine hated him and would've loved to ruin his life, but… not like that. His hair was still sopping, dripping uncomfortably down his neck and onto his face. He shook out his hair like a dog, hoping to get some of it on the douchebags in front of him, and pulling on his jeans.

"We don't like you, Anderson," Azimio started as Blaine pulled his shirt over his head. Even wearing clothes, he felt a hell of a lot less helpless than before. "We don't like your disrespect, we don't like that you're hanging out with those gays in the glee club, and we _definitely _don't like you and that fairy, Hummel."

Blaine's jaw clenched when he mentioned Kurt. That's where it became not okay. "Congrats, Adams!" he mocked. "You spoke a whole sentence! That's more than I thought you'd be capable of, truth be told."

Azimio glowered at him and Karofsky took over the threatening, or whatever they were trying to do. "You know, we've slushied all of your friends, and realized it's about time we introduced _you_ to your official life of loserdome here at McKinley." He said, looking at his friends. "It's initiation day."

Blaine tensed and took a more defensive position but it didn't matter, cause Karofsky and Azimio both grabbed him, and he might've been able to take them on one-on-one, but not double teamed. They snapped something at Strando, and he turned the faucet of the shower back on high. The other two lifted him up, grabbing his arms and legs and holding him under the shower head.

Blaine tried to wrestle his way out of their hold, ducking as well as he could out from underneath the water, but Strando grabbed the back of his head and forced him to stay still. He kicked and jutted as well as he could, but it was hard to defend himself when he couldn't see and was slowing drowning.

"Stop struggling," Karofsky growled. "It's nothing you don't deserve, faggot."

He was swallowing a lot of water, trying to breath, still jerking his limbs to try and get put down, water soaking through his hair and his clothes. It definitely getting harder to hold him, since he was slicked with water and trying to get the hell away from them. Strando tugged his hair back, making his cough into the flood of water that invaded his mouth and up his nose, making him squeeze his eyes shut. Fuck, this was bad. He was definitely losing breath if his dizziness was any indication. His chest was heaving, he could feel himself about to pass out, but fuck, he did _not_ want them to win. This school was his new start, he was _not _getting fucked over here, no fucking way.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Blaine's head was too cloudy to really notice who was talking. He heard a few pairs of feet run over and he felt the tension on his head leave. He was dropped onto the ground, and he didn't have time to catch himself. He registered a lot of yelling, but he was pretty preoccupied, you know, not being dead.

Someone shut off the water and he started coughing all the water in his mouth and lungs, sitting on his knees, curled into himself. He heaved for a minute, getting all the fucking water out of him and heard a few more people enter, and someone mutter, "Go get Kurt."

Once he was done puking out all the excess water, he gasped, just trying to breathe again, his eyes still squeezed tight. When he was able to start breathing normally again, he sat against the wall of the shower, and looked up.

Mike and Finn were standing in front of him with wide eyes. "Hey, dude." Finn said eventually. "You okay?"

Blaine just coughed up a little more water. Mike stepped into the shower and extended his hand, helping Blaine up. Blaine's head was pounding so hard he had to sit down again, slouching on the bench near Finn, holding his head in his hands. Ugh. Worst day ever.

"Sam went to get Mr. Schue and Kurt," Mike said, sitting beside him. "Seriously though, are you okay?"

"Fine," Blaine grunted.

"We came in with Sam once glee was over to grab out bags," Finn said, gesturing to their lockers. "And we saw them holding you – were they trying to drown you or something?" he asked in concern.

Blaine shook his head. "Not really. I mean, yes, but only to send a message."

"What message?"

"They don't like me."

They were quiet for a moment, and Mike asked, "How long did they have you under there for?"

Blaine was still soaking wet, dripping onto the floor, the only sound for a moment the splatter of droplets hitting the linoleum. "I don't know. A minute? Maybe two?"

The locker room doors swung open, and Mr. Schue, Kurt, Sam, and Coach Bieste all came in, their faces all varying from concern to anger. Kurt hurried over to him, clutching his bag, and taking Blaine hands off his face, looking him in the eye and mumbling, "Okay?"

The doors opened and in came what seemed to be the rest of the glee club. They all started crowding him, Schue and Bieste in the front. "Blaine, what happened? Who did this?"

He rubbed his eyes for a second, answering after brushing his bangs up, as they were still flopped down, plastered to his forehead. "It was Azimio, Strando, and Karofsky." Mr. Schue asked again what happened, and Blaine groaned, so not wanting to talk about it. "I finished taking a shower, they triple teamed me and gave me my 'initiation into loserdome'," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"They held him under the water for a minute, maybe two, before Finn, Sam, and I got here. Then they took off." Mike said, knowing Blaine wasn't planning on cooperating.

Coach Bieste's face was so red it was starting to turn purple. "Let's go, Anderson, right now. We're going to principal Figgins."

"No, we're not." Blaine responded just as easily, getting a stir from the onlookers.

"Blaine-" Kurt tried, turning to him in surprise.

Mr. Schue and Bieste started protesting too, and the Spanish teacher said, "Blaine, this is a serious hate crime. This is assault, we need to go to the principal."

"Yes, an assault that had no witnesses besides myself." He said brusquely. "Figgins is an idiot, he won't know what to do, it'll be word against there's. You know it's true."

"They still need to be held accountable," Bieste argued. "Whether it's detention or a talking to, we can't let them get away with nothing."

"Actually we _can_." Her jaw clenched in frustration, but he knew he was right. "Coach, I get what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you or Schuester say, you didn't witness anything, and even if Finn, Sam, and Mike testify, it's still our word against there's. They're going to go with there's."

"You don't know that, Blaine," Mr. Schue said ardently. "They could believe-"

"They could, but they won't." Blaine interrupted him sharply. "They're three star football players, I'm a gay transfer student. This is _Ohio_, Mr. Schue. They're not going to care."

Mr. Schue sighed and stopped crouching in front of Blaine, walking a few steps away to talk to Mike and Sam. Kurt brushed his fingers through Blaine's soaked hair, brushing it behind his ear. "Are you sure you okay?"

Blaine nodded, toying with Kurt's fingers. "I'm okay. Pretty pissed, but okay. I'm sorry I'm late for your little playdate in the choir room."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Please tell me you don't really care about that. It's just a song I wanted to sing with you."

Blaine's bloodshot eyes lit up. "A song? _Kurt_, I'd love to sing a song with you, can we still do that? I think it would make my week."

Kurt grinned at his excitement. "Of course we can." He assured him. "C'mon, I brought you some dry clothes, you want to change?"

Blaine hummed and took the bag of spare clothes from Kurt. "You are amazing. Tell me why you have this though?"

"In case of the occasional slushie," he answered airily.

"Okay, Blaine," Mr. Schue said to him suddenly. "I won't force you to talk to Mr. Figgins or anything, but you should know I _will _be talking to him." Blaine rolled his eyes and Mr. Schue turned to the rest of the kids and said, "Guys, you're dismissed, I'll see you all tomorrow."

They filtered out slowly, Mike and Sam staying behind to make sure Blaine was okay, Finn staying behind to tell Blaine not to try for revenge, firmly, but less firmly when Blaine's dark look reminded him of their last conversation involving Finn telling Blaine what to do. Coach Bieste was the last person in there besides Kurt and Blaine, and she handed Blaine the key to the locker room.

"Lock it up when you leave, I have to go." She said. "Leave the key on my office desk, okay, kid?" he nodded and she patted his wet shoulder before walking out of the locker room.

Kurt stood up and pulled Blaine up, rucking up his wet shirt to get it off of him. Blaine sort of smiled, feeling Kurt's warm hands glide up his clammy, cold torso. He pulled his shirt over his head. His curls weren't dry, but they were cold because of how chilled the locker room was. "Want to warm up before we go?" he asked, idly tracing down Blaine's chest to stomach.

Blaine raised his eyebrows at him, and Kurt pulled him back over to the showers, turning it on to a much warmer temperature than Karofsky had set it to. Blaine looked between Kurt and the shower, his eyebrows still raised. Kurt stepped out of his boots. "What are you doing?"

Kurt just grinned and stepped closer to the shower, pulling Blaine with him. "You want to take a shower? In our clothes?" he asked, getting a laugh from Kurt. "Kurt this is crazy. We don't have an infinite amount of dry clothes. This is probably very stupid."

Kurt stepped close to him, holding Blaine's shoulders. "Let's be stupid together." He murmured before letting go of him and stepping back into the shower, his mouth falling into an 'o' when the water hit his covered back. Blaine laughed and shook his head at him before following him in, his cold skin tingling when it was hit with the hot water.

Kurt looked really young, with his hair darkened and flopped onto his forehead, his clothes clinging to his skin. Blaine probably looked similarly ridiculous, both of them fully clothed apart from their shoes and Blaine's shirt, but he didn't care. He was having fun. Even after being half drowned by a group of assholes, Kurt was able to make him feel better. He was able to make him _happy_. Kurt always made him happy. Blaine started to forget what it felt like to be that happy, but he was incredibly happy to be reminded.

It was weirdly romantic once they started kissing. It shouldn't have been, because they were showering in their clothes in the boy's locker room, and it kind of smelled like feet. But it _was_ romantic because it was Kurt and Blaine, alone, and being stupid and happy.

They didn't stay too long, because the janitors would probably be cleaning the halls soon, and they didn't really want to explain to them why they were both sopping wet after school. So they grabbed the dry clothes, neither of them bothering to change yet, just grabbing their things and running outside.

"_Shit!_" Kurt exclaimed as soon as they hit the parking lot. "It's fucking _freezing_!"

Blaine laughed and ran after Kurt to his car. "Hence why that was a really stupid idea," he retorted, seeing his breath in front of him. At least it wasn't snowing. They got inside Kurt's car, immediately turning the heat up all the way and catching their breath. Kurt looked at him and laughed. Blaine laughed too. He wasn't sure what Kurt was laughing at, he wasn't even sure what he was laughing at. He was laughing at their stupidity, and their childishness, and their unorthodox idea of having fun.

They got to Kurt's house a while later, pointedly ignoring Carole's inquiring look, grateful Burt wasn't there, because he definitely would've demanded some answers. They went up to Kurt's room and Blaine borrowed a pair of his pajamas, going into the hall bathroom to towel himself off and change into much warmer, more comfortable, and importantly, more _dry_ clothes.

Kurt was fiddling with his stereo when he went back into his room. "Duet time?" he prompted, shutting the door gently behind him.

Kurt turned to him with a grin. "Duet time." he confirmed. "I'm sure you know this one," he murmured, pressing play.

Blaine listened tensely for a moment, waiting for recognizable chords when his mouth fell open. "This is my _favorite _Christmas song!" he exclaimed. Kurt grinned and Blaine cleared his throat as the lyrics got started.

_I really can't stay _**but baby it's cold outside**

_I've got to go away _**but baby, it's cold outside**

_This evening has been… _**been hoping that you'd drop in**

_So very nice _**I'll hold you hands, they're just like ice**

They danced around playfully while they sang, both of them knowing their parts to perfection. Kurt was so freaking cute when he was being flirtatious like this, and Blaine let himself go in the song, being goofy, and playful, and yeah, they were being stupid together. He wished he could emphasize how adorable Kurt was, so he tried to pay special attention to lines like, **beautiful what's your hurry**. He might've let his eyes fall down to Kurt's pouting lips a few times, but he couldn't be blamed, because Kurt was playing coy, like he didn't know _exactly _what he was doing to Blaine in that moment, and _god_ that was irresistible. Plus, he was literally singing about Kurt's lips, it was practically impossible to not at least _think_ about kissing them.

So when they sang together the last _**But baby it's cold outside**_, Blaine immediately fell on the bed, pulling Kurt with him and kissing him sweetly, smiling into his stupid lips.

It totally sucked he was leaving for basically his entire winter break, because he could just imagine how amazing it would be to go ice skating, and get hot chocolate, and sing, and be stupid with Kurt for a week straight. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn't stop thinking about how, this would be the first time they'd be apart for a while since they met, and what if, by some insane thing, Kurt just lost interest in him.

Blaine decided then, while he was kissing Kurt on his bed, his senses engulfed by Kurt's scent, he definitely had something else he needed to get Kurt, and he had an idea of what he wanted it to be.

**?!**

"Hey," Blaine said when Kurt opened his front door.

"Hi." There was a bit of melancholia in his tone, but he still smiled. It was Blaine's last day before he left for the Bahamas where there would be limited to no wifi, and insane texting rates. Kurt had woken up a few hours ago, but he was still in his pajamas with his hair flopped onto his forehead, because he was pouting about Blaine's soon departure so he didn't care about looking great. Besides, it was Christmas break, he didn't have to dress to impress inside his own house.

Blaine walked into the house and said, "Okay, you need to get dressed, and dress warm, and comfortably." He hadn't actually told Kurt what their plans for the day included and Kurt was very curious.

He didn't bother questioning Blaine, knowing he wouldn't answer. "Okay, you can wait in the living room, Finn's in there watching cartoons. I'll go get dressed."

Blaine nodded and pecked Kurt's cheek before walking into the living room. Kurt went back up to his room lazily, hearing Finn's and Blaine's muted greetings. Warmly and comfortably. He knew it was cold and possibly going to snow, so obviously he needed to dress warmly, but what were they going to do that required him to dress comfortably?

He remembered Blaine was wearing jeans so he grabbed a looser pair from his drawer and pulled them on with a very warm, plain black sweater. He laced up his docs along with the outfit and took only a few minutes on his hair, pulling on his black and gray bomber hat as part of the 'warm' advice.

He went back downstairs pocketing his phone and found Blaine and Finn sitting together on the couch, watching an old episode of _Saved by the Bell_, Finn simultaneously stuffing his mouth with spoonfuls of cereal. Kurt gestured for Blaine to join him, and he quickly said his goodbye to Finn before helping Kurt pull on his pea coat and leading him outside to an unfamiliar car.

"Whose is this?" Kurt inquired as Blaine opened the passenger door for him.

"John's, actually. He and Mary are doing some last minute groceries with the kids, they told me I could take it." He answered, pulling out of the Hummel-Hudson driveway and turning on the radio. He glanced over at Kurt and said, "I like your hat."

Kurt smiled and responded, "Thanks," he appraised Blaine's outfit, seeing a dark green sweater underneath his unbuttoned pea coat and a red scarf around his neck. Something he really appreciated about Blaine that came as a surprise, was his fashion sense. It wasn't as flamboyant as Kurt's, not even close, but he had at least a fundamental understanding to not mix certain colors and wear two different patterns together.

"So do you want to tell me where we're going?" he asked airily.

"Nope," Blaine responded, popping his 'p' and grinning at Kurt. Kurt slumped in his seat and waited for their arrival, which was the park a few streets over from the elementary school he went to.

He looked over at Blaine when he cut the engine and unbuckled. "The park?"

Blaine just grinned at him and got out of the car. Kurt followed him over to where many people were, standing around with steaming mugs or skating on the frozen over lake. Kurt shot Blaine a look that told him plainly, he wasn't impressed.

"Is it even safe to skate on that?" he asked skeptically.

Blaine grabbed Kurt around the waist and said, "Yes, it's very safe, they're even renting out skates." He pouted at Kurt, looking at him from under his eyelashes. "Give it a shot?"

Kurt worked to keep the grin off his face, but couldn't, because Blaine's puppy dog eyes were his kryptonite. "Alright, but I've suck at ice skating."

"That's okay," Blaine said, dropping the pout and smiling at him. "I'll teach you."

He dragged Kurt out of the parking lot and towards the frozen pond to get skates. Blaine insisted on paying for both of them, and Kurt didn't argue because it was only three dollars. And he pulled him onto the ice. It took a few minutes for Kurt to really get his footing, and even when he did, he stilled slipped and nearly fell every minute or so. Blaine was a competent skater to say the least, skating backwards in front of Kurt so he could hold his hands and brace his falls.

It worked really well, until Kurt stumbled on a divot in the ice and fell forward and Blaine only noticed in time to fall down with him. Admittedly, it hurt and he smacked his elbow pretty hard on the ice, but worse things have happened to him than falling on top of an attractive boy who really enjoyed kissing him. Blaine was able to sneak in a few kisses before Kurt was able to stand up and when he finally did, they started skating again, this time side by side. He latched onto Blaine's hand pretty soon after they'd started just to help keep him up and Blaine laced their fingers together. Even though Kurt's fingers were freezing without gloves, he really liked being able to hold Blaine's hand while they ice skated.

When they got off the ice, Kurt stuffed his hands into his pockets to warm them up and headed towards the car, but Blaine tugged him toward a small hot chocolate stand. They got their drinks and sat in Blaine's car with the heat on to try and warm up, since at one point during their skating it had started snowing. Blaine pulled off his snow soaked beanie and Kurt pulled up the collar of his coat.

"I should've worn a scarf." He murmured, rubbing his hands together.

"Oh!" Blaine exclaimed. "That reminds me!" he turned and climbed onto the aisle between the two front seats and started digging around the back seat. Kurt waited patiently with the perfect view of Blaine's ass right near his face to pass the time. Blaine sat back down in his seat and handed Kurt a gift bag with red and green tissue paper poking out of the top.

Kurt accepted the gift and looked up at Blaine with a shocked sort of smile on his face. "Christmas present." Blaine explained. "I saw them at the store and thought of you."

Kurt felt his face warm up just at the thought of Blaine thinking about him when they're not together and he gingerly picked out the tissue paper. He reached into the bag without taking his eyes off of Blaine. He looked down when he felt fabric and lifted out of the bag a Burberry scarf.

"Is this real Burberry?" he asked incredulously. Blaine nodded with a proud grin and Kurt asked quickly, "God, Blaine, how much did this cost you?"

Blaine just brushed it off, "Don't worry about it, it was on sale." He said and Kurt launched himself over to Blaine's side of the car and kissed him on the lips, hoping to transfer all of the gratefulness and happiness and tenderness he was feeling into the kiss, just careful enough to not spill his very hot drink.

Blaine let Kurt kiss him a few more times before he pulled back and said, "There's something else in the bag." Kurt dug back into the bag eagerly, pulling out a small, black velvet box. Blaine took it from his fingers and opened it for him, facing it towards Kurt. Inside was a silver ring, a shining metallic. Kurt took it out of the box and looked more closely at it, his breath halting. On the inside of the ring was a small engraving that he almost didn't notice that read, _K & B_.

He looked up at Blaine with wide eyes filled with excitement. "What is this?"

Blaine licked his lips and looked down at the ring, taking it between his fingers and toying with it. "It's a ring, nothing too fancy. I just, um," he looked up at Kurt again, searching his eyes and answering, "I like the idea of you wearing something that'll make you think of me. And to remind you that I'll be thinking of you."

Kurt could feel his eyes prickling with tears and he held out his middle finger for Blaine to slide the ring on. Blaine was making a habit of doing these entirely endearing things that was making Kurt want to cry, and it was seriously becoming a problem. He leaned over again and hugged Blaine tightly. He knew they were being a little dramatic, given that it was only for vacation they'd be apart, but it'd feel like a lot longer because they wouldn't even have breaks for school to make it feel less long. This gift though, he knew, was meant for more than just Christmas break.

"I have your present at home." He murmured into the warm skin of Blaine's neck where he'd chosen to duck his face into. One thing he'd really miss was how Blaine smelled, because that was hard to duplicate.

Blaine pulled back and said, "You didn't have to get me anything," Kurt just shrugged.

"It's not anything big," he responded.

Blaine stared at him for a moment with a fond expression and said, "So I was planning on taking you out for dinner, but I'm starting to think tonight's more of an order-in kind of night. What do you think?"

"That sounds perfect." Kurt said. "We can order pizza and curl up in front of the fireplace."

Blaine hummed to himself. "That sounds amazing. You want to call ahead?" he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and started towards Kurt's house again. Something that worked out wonderfully, was Blaine didn't eat pizzas with disgusting topping like anchovies, or mushrooms, the weirdest he ate was Hawaiian, and that was only occasional. But when they were together like this, they could order a single half cheese/half pepperoni pizza and they were both happy.

When they got back to Kurt's house no one else was home. He and Blaine were planning on going out, so it made sense that he made plans with Finn and Carole for while they were gone. "Where is everyone?" Blaine asked as he stepped out of his boots.

"Dinner, probably." He said. "Speaking of, the pizza should be here in ten. I'm just going to run upstairs and throw on some pajamas, do you want something less wet?"

"That would be great." Blaine responded, shivering a little once he was out of his coat. "I'll start a fire."

After warning him that it was a gas fire, Kurt ran upstairs and peeled off his wet jeans and sweater before pulling on dry underwear and his fuzzy two piece pajama set, which was arguably the most comfortable thing he owned. He pulled out sweatpants for Blaine and a simple pajama shirt to wear with it. He debated with himself for a moment about getting underwear for Blaine, because it wasn't like any of Blaine's were at his house, Blaine would probably appreciate wearing new underwear. He grabbed a pair from his drawer and put them with Blaine's clothes, grabbing his dirty laundry as well. He went back downstairs and found Blaine sitting in front of the now flaming fireplace.

"For you," he said, handing the clothes to Blaine.

He accepted them and looked at the pile, grinning and all but moaning, "Boxer briefs? You are the _best_." He pecked Kurt's lips and went into the bathroom to change. Kurt kneeled in front of the fire for a minute before there was a knock on the door.

He hurried over, snagging his wallet off the dining room table and opened the door for what looked like a freezing pizza delivery boy. He paid for the pizza and gave the poor kid a tip, and just as he shut the door, Blaine walked out. He'd clearly rubbed a towel over his head to dry his hair, and his curls were loose and puffy and looked like bed-head in the cutest possible way.

"Aw, no, did you pay for pizza?" he asked, walking over to Kurt. Kurt nodded slowly, confusion taking up his face. "Damn, tonight's my big romantic gesture before I leave for a week, you can't be paying for it."

Kurt just laughed and took Blaine's cold hand and pulled him into the other room. "Well you paid for skates and hot chocolate, so it's basically evened out now."

Kurt opened the hallway closet door and pulled out his favorite thick blanket for them. They sat down on the couch closest to the fire and started eating dinner even though they forgot to get plates. Even if Blaine was going for a big romantic gesture, Kurt was still definitely satisfied. It wasn't flowers and chocolates and fancy dinner reservations, but he loved it.

Kurt ate until he felt bloated and leaned on Blaine's shoulder as the latter finished eating. Blaine threw his crust into the empty box and adjusted himself on the couch, sprawling out so he took up the whole couch. "Going to leave any room for me?" Kurt asked.

Blaine just smiled and patted his own chest. Kurt grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself and laid on top of Blaine. Blaine held him around the waist and kissing the tip of Kurt's nose. He inched himself higher on Blaine and leaned on his chest, propping himself up so they could look at each other.

"Do you remember a while ago, after our first date, when I said I wasn't sure what I wanted us to be?" Blaine hummed in affirmation. "I haven't totally decided yet, but I was thinking, that maybe… you'd want to be _something_?"

"An official or unofficial something?" Blaine prompted.

He shrugged. "Maybe we could be an unofficial something, but something officially?" he suggested slowly. Blaine laughed and Kurt could feel the vibrations. "Does that sound good to you?" Blaine nodded and nudged his nose against Kurt's

"Kiss me." Blaine said, looking at Kurt with those big, stupid, gorgeous eyes. Kurt complied without hesitation, leaning down and pressing his lips to Blaine's. He kissed him softly a few times before deepening their kisses, licking his way into Blaine's mouth, parting his lips with a sigh. Blaine's hands traveled closer to Kurt's ass, hesitating and waiting for permission. Kurt's legs clamped around Blaine, spreading further apart and he nodded to Blaine, pressing kisses to the corner of his mouth and down his neck. Blaine squeezed his ass, greedily taking his lips again for a hungry kiss as he worked his palms into Kurt's ass cheeks.

Kurt moaned into his mouth, his erection getting more obvious. He grabbed Blaine's hands off his ass and pulled them above Blaine's head, pinning down his wrists. Blaine opened his mouth wider for Kurt to push his tongue in further, pressing Blaine's wrists into the armrest above him, dropping his hips and slowly grinding himself against him, dragging himself against Blaine's cotton sweatpants, feeling quite firmly, Blaine's cock against his, just four layers of thin, soft cotton between them. Blaine groaned and lifted his hips off the couch, meeting Kurt's thrusts.

Kurt let go of Blaine's hands and buried his own in Blaine's dark curls, tugging on them and tangling up his fingers. He seated himself more comfortably in Blaine's lap, sitting on him more than laying on him and grinding down hard, the blanket falling off his shoulders and pooling at his waist. Blaine was sucking hard on Kurt's lower lip, granting him the opportunity to pay attention to Blaine's upper lip, sliding his tongue along Blaine's pearly teeth.

"Kurt," Blaine panted against the boy's hungry lips. Kurt kissed down to Blaine's clavicle and Blaine asked breathlessly, "Babe, you think we should cool off? If your family went out to dinner, they should be back soon, and I don't want them walking in me with a massive boner and hickeys all over me."

"Sounds pretty hot though, doesn't it?" Kurt panted against his neck, grinning into the expanse of Blaine's hot skin.

"Totally hot," he assured him. "But not for them."

Kurt breathed, his nose pressed against Blaine's collar bone. "Okay," he said after a long moment. "I'm going to go get your Christmas present."

"That sounds great," Blaine grinned. "I think I'm just going to use your bathroom."

Kurt climbed off of Blaine and let him awkwardly walk to the bathroom, a clear bulge in his sweats, grinning at Kurt when he looked back and saw him watching him. Kurt went upstairs, and first relieved the situation in the front of his jeans. He went into his room, reaching under his bed to grab the small box he'd wrapped up for Blaine, weighing it in his hands for a minute with a disgruntled expression.

Blaine's gift to him was perfectly in the middle of platonic and romantic, just like them. His gift was on the same spectrum, though dangerously close to the romantic side. Of course, Blaine didn't know the half of the romantic side, it was probably still questionable. God, he should probably just put his gift back under his bed and grab him a sweater he hasn't taken the tag off of or something.

Kurt, you're being ridiculous, his head voice told him. First of all, you don't have a sweater you haven't taken the tag off of. Besides, Blaine is downstairs getting himself off because of how hot your last make out session was. He could accept a necklace shaped like a heart.

He grabbed his box and headed back downstairs, avidly aware of his own necklace, thudding against his chest as he made his way back down the stairs. Blaine was back on the couch, sprawled out again, his eyes closed, leaning against the arm rest.

"Sleepy?" he asked. Blaine lifted his head and turned to him with a smile, sitting up so Kurt could sit with him. He held the box out to Blaine who accepted it eagerly, tearing open the wrapping paper with a surprising amount of gentleness.

He saw the plain black box and glanced at Kurt for a second before slowly lifting the lid. He gingerly took out the necklace, holding it up to his face without a word. Kurt counted three long seconds in his head without Blaine reacting and panicked.

"I can return it if you don't like it," not true. "It was kind of a stupid idea anyways, it's fine if you don't want it-" Blaine grabbed the back of Kurt's neck, cutting him off his rambling with a tender kiss.

His gold eyes were especially bright and filled with warmth. "It's not stupid," he assured Kurt. "I love it."

A grin slowly took up Kurt's face. "Really?" he asked quietly. Blaine nodded with a big, dopey smile.

"Really. Help me put it on?" he handed the locket to Kurt and turned so he could put it on. Kurt's hands were shaking as he tried to do the clasp, his nervousness mixing with joy and just a splash of adrenaline.

Once the necklace was securely around his neck, Blaine lifted the charm and pressed it to his lips, smiling at Kurt while he did. He let the necklace fall onto his chest again and said, "Want to lay down again?"

"That sounds perfect." Kurt said. He got up to let Blaine situate himself before climbing back on top of him, tugging the blanket around them. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, resting them on the small of his back. Neither of them spoke. With all that happened that day, there was little to say that could've made it better. Even though Blaine was leaving in the morning to fly out to Florida to be stuck on a boat for a week, their last day together was perfect. And he still had New Year's to look forward to as a sort of landmark for Blaine's return, he didn't feel like moping anymore, especially when he was wrapped up in Blaine's warm embrace in front of a dying fire. He was tired too. He snuggled into Blaine's arms, nuzzling his cheek onto Blaine's chest and let himself fall asleep, engulfed by the smell of warmth, and pizza, and Blaine's cologne.

**?!**

"Blaine," he felt himself be shaken awake. Well, more like patted awake. He opened his eyes blearily and saw Kurt's step-mom in front of him in the mostly dark living room, the only the light coming from the TV and illuminating her face. "Your aunt just called; it's nearly eleven, she wants you home to double check all of your things are packed."

Blaine started blinking himself awake. Aunt. Eleven. Home. Packed. He looked at Mrs. Hudson again as coherency slowly started to come over him. He was going on a plane to go on a cruise in the morning. It was almost eleven, Mary wanted him home. He glanced at himself and saw Kurt laying on him, his arms wound around Blaine's middle.

"Okay," he responded hoarsely.

Carole smiled at him and handed him his cell phone. She must've answered for him. It was weird he didn't wake up. Or wake up to the sound of the late night show Burt and Finn were watching on TV just a few feet away, or even just the sounds of them getting home.

He combed his fingers through Kurt's soft hair and murmured close to his ear, "Kurt, honey, you have to get up." Kurt just groaned something unintelligible into his shirt. "I have to go home, so you have to get off of me."

Kurt grumbled again but lifted himself off of Blaine anyways, slowly sitting up and letting Blaine reclaim his legs. "Mary wants me back to make sure everything's all packed up for tomorrow." He explained.

Kurt moaned vaguely to show his understand for Blaine's words. Blaine glanced up at his unruly locks and grinned. "Nice bedhead."

Kurt half heartedly covered his hair with his hands, his eyes still only half open. "Don't look at it." He mumbled.

"It's adorable." Blaine assured him, getting off the couch. Kurt laid back down and Blaine kneeled on the floor space in front of him so he could still make eye contact with him. "If you're going back to sleep, I'd suggest maybe in your bed?"

Kurt's eyes were open just a sliver. "Shut up." He muttered shortly, his voice thick with sleep. Blaine laughed under his breath and pecked Kurt on the lips.

"I'll text you in the morning, 'kay?"

"'Kay." Kurt responded, reaching his heavy arm out and playing with Blaine's locket for a second with the ghost of a smile before letting it fall back onto his chest. "Have fun." He murmured.

Blaine smiled and squeezed Kurt's hand before standing up, waving goodbye to Kurt's family and leaving, one of his hands playing with his locket as he drove home.

**?!**

Kurt woke up the next morning on the couch, his phone vibrating next to his face. He groaned and opened his eyes, rubbing them as he sat up. It was Christmas Eve. The tree had been plugged in, the fire was blazing, Finn was watching _Home Alone_, and the house smelled like cookies.

"Hey, you're awake!" Finn said cheerily, dressed in festive, Christmas tree patterned pajamas. He gestured towards Macaulay Culkin on screen. "There's a marathon on today if you wanna watch with me."

"Maybe," Kurt said, looking at his phone. Blaine texted him! He eagerly opened up the message.

**Was woken up at six this morning so we could leave for the airport at eight for our flight at ten, all so we could open presents before we left, and give time for b&r to repack which toys they're bringing on vacation.**

Kurt grinned at the screen, not necessarily because of what it said, but because Blaine wasn't on a plane yet, he could talk to him. But only until ten, when his plane left.

_Poor baby. What did you get for Christmas?_

**Oh, yay, you're awake! I was worried you'd be asleep until my flight. Also, do not patronize me, Hummel. I got a few sweaters, a coat, a couple books, and oh yeah, tickets to see Evita when it comes to Columbus in January. **

_What?! Oh my god, I'm so jealous._

**Why? You're coming with me, dummy.**

Kurt bit down on his lip really, really hard to keep from squealing, his grin obnoxiously wide and ridiculous. A small sound escaped and apparently Finn heard it, and he looked over at Kurt and almost laughed when he saw him. "What? You look like you're about to pee yourself." Kurt just shook his head at him; there was no way Finn would understand.

_Oh my god, I love you so mu_

Kurt stopped typing and didn't hit send. He erased the message slowly. That would be a completely acceptable way to talk to Mercedes, one of his best friends, but not Blaine, who probably _was _his best friend. Blaine was just a little too good a friend to say I love you to.

_You are amazing. I cannot believe you. Thanks for making my gift feel insufficient._

**I loved your gift!**

Kurt laughed to himself and kept texting Blaine, talking about yesterday and today and tomorrow. Kurt wished he'd woken up sooner so they'd have more time to talk, because Blaine was already through security, about to board his flight.

**I'll try and talk to you as soon as I can, but I have to go. Merry Christmas, Kurt, I'll see you soon, I promise! You'll barely even notice I was gone.**

_Bye, Blaine, merry Christmas. I'll miss you._

He sent the message before he could erase that last bit. He would miss Blaine. There shouldn't be any shame in admitting that. He still wished he could take it back though, at least until Blaine said it first. Blaine didn't respond for a minute and Kurt started freaking out in his head. What if he didn't get his last message and thought Kurt didn't respond. He could've lost service after he read it and couldn't respond to return the sentiment. But what if he's choosing not to respond after reading the message because he thought it weird for Kurt to say that?

Kurt's phone buzzed in his hand and he saw Blaine responded. He opened his message, cursing his phone for not loading it immediately, his hands practically shaking in anticipation because of how much he freaked himself out.

**I'll miss you too. But at least now I have this gorgeous necklace to remind me of the gorgeous boy waiting for me back home. **

Kurt blushed deeply, feeling it up to his roots. Before he could fully process that message, another came in.

**Ben's sitting with me and says merry Christmas. I really have to go, the plane's about to take off, but I'll see you soon. Bye, sweetheart. **

**?!**

Kurt decided right off the bat he wasn't going to let Blaine's absence bother him. The first day he spent with Finn, turning off his phone, and stuffing themselves with cookies and watching their favorite Christmas movies. His dad and step mom joined them at some point, and after they had a nice family dinner all together, they opened a single present as was the Hudson family's tradition every Christmas Eve. Kurt opened one from his dad, a Marc Jacobs sweater he'd been fawning over for months.

The next day it was easy to distract himself; it was Christmas! He sent out a quick text to his closest friends, not including Blaine, and it was all too easy to get his mind off of Blaine what with presents, and stockings, and having every single member of his new and old family over for dinner.

The next few days he forced himself to be productive; he cleaned and reorganized his bedroom, he did all the homework that was assigned to him for break, and he spent time with his friends. He had lunch with Quinn, and he went shopping with Mercedes and Tina, and he went to a small get together at Lauren's house for Christmas, and got a knit beanie from their Yankee swap. He even played video games with Finn and the boys for _hours_.

He was mentally exhausted from exerting that much of his attention and energy on his friends and family, and he decided to spend all of New Year's Eve in bed, napping, sipping coco and eating leftover sweets. He needed to relax at least once over vacation, so he gave his house a strict, _no bothering Kurt today_ policy that was actually followed. He also gave up on the whole, refusing to think about Blaine at all thing, too. It wasn't like he was sobbing because it'd been a whole week apart or anything absurd, but he should've been allowed to miss him at least a little. So he spent at lot of his day twisting the ring on his finger, and looking through photos he had of the two of them on his phone, and just _thinking _about him. Nothing weird, or needy, or stalkerish, just what they should do when Blaine got back in town, and how much he wanted to kiss him, and how soft Blaine's lips were. Normal stuff.

He finally left his room at eight, for Puck's stupid New Year's party. He didn't want to go, but that's where Blaine would be, assuming he got back to Lima at all tonight. Besides, he probably _should _get out of the house on New Year's.

The party, as expected, was not much fun for him. There was a lot of booze and a lot of people getting high in the backyard, but while that might've been Puck's idea of a good time, it definitely wasn't his. So he spent most of his time there with Mercedes, waiting for the stupid party to be over so he could get his damn breakfast food. Until it neared midnight and he started looking around for Blaine to suddenly appear, checking his phone every five seconds to be sure he hadn't missed a message. It was so much easier _last _New Year's, when he didn't have a sort of boyfriend, and he wasn't attending ragers.

And so, he waited.

**?!**

11:47. That was the time it was when Blaine finally (_finally!_) got home, and he immediately grabbed the keys to his aunt's car, and after telling Mary where he was going, he left without a second glance. He just wished for the day spring finally rolled around, and the roads wouldn't be so crappy he can't ride his bike.

He hurried to Puck's place, where a party was raging inside plus a dozen people on the front yard, dancing and drinking. If the cops busted this party, they'd be in _so _much trouble. He hurried inside, pushing his way through people, searching blindly around the room. He tried calling Kurt on his phone, but he couldn't hear him, he just hoped Kurt took it as a signal for him being there.

He wanted to kiss Kurt at midnight. More than anything he wanted for Christmas, he wanted to kiss Kurt on New Year's, because it was high school, it was the time for new experiences, and he wanted to experience _so much _with Kurt.

He ran through room to room, asking people he knew, like Quinn and Sam, where Kurt was, if he was even there. Sam directed him into the family room where the TV was blasting Dick Clarks' New Year's Rockin' Eve. The room was tight packed and there was only one light on, how in god's name was he supposed to find Kurt in this cramped clutter of people? Crap, they were starting the sixty second countdown. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. He pushed past people who huffed at him for it, most of the room already clasped onto another person to kiss.

Blaine stood found Puck, holding the waist of a girl Blaine didn't recognize, a solo cup in hand. "Dude, have you seen Kurt?" he nearly shouted over the music.

"He's over by the back doors!" Puck yelled back, gesturing across the room.

Blaine ran across as quickly as he could, stepping on several people's feet, pushing people blindly as the time hit twenty seconds.

Finally, he got over and grabbed Kurt's elbow, who turned to him and his expression of boredom and disappointment shifted to that of disbelief. "Blaine?" he said squinting in the darkness before throwing his arms around Blaine's shoulders. "I can't believe you're here, I thought for sure you wouldn't make it back in time!"

Blaine hugged him and gestured to the sliding door behind them that led to the deck. Kurt opened the door and led them out to the considerably less crowded deck, claimed mostly by chain smokers, as the ten second countdown started. "Wouldn't miss this for the world." He said, wrapping his arms around Kurt. "Five,"

"Four," Kurt continued, pulling Blaine so they were barely an inch apart.

"Three," Blaine breathed along with the half-drunken crowd inside who were nearly screaming.

"Two," Kurt said, licking his lips in anticipation.

"One." They said in unison, not hesitating before connecting their lips.

Screams and shouts and champagne bottles roared all together, and Blaine was starting to understand the appeal to romance. There was so much noise and so many flashing lights but it didn't take away, because he was kissing Kurt on New Year's Eve when he'd been gone for more than a week. He missed Kurt so much, and Kurt had been waiting for him, and Kurt was _such_ a good kisser. That's when the fireworks started going off.

Kurt jumped back, startled, and they both looked over, just over the neighbor's houses where the fireworks coming from the stadium a few blocks over. People from inside the house shuffled outside to see the fireworks. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, holding him close to his chest, pressing a kiss onto his forehead as the fireworks got larger and more elaborate.

After a minute, Kurt pulled back and said, "Come with me."

Blaine followed him curiously into the nearly empty house and upstairs, where Kurt opened a bedroom door, and pulled Blaine out onto the balcony. But he didn't stop. He climbed onto the window and pulled himself onto the roof. Blaine made sure to spot him, appreciating the great view of Kurt's ass before climbing up after him.

"I like the way you think." He murmured, seeing the blanket and pillows set up on the flat surface of the roof.

He laid down beside Kurt, propped up on the pillow with a perfect view of the firework show. Kurt laid his head on Blaine's chest and Blaine brushed through Kurt's hair. It was so familiar, and just getting back to Ohio, Blaine could use something a little familiar. Everything with Kurt was so familiar, so easy. A few minutes in, Kurt twisted up to look at Blaine with a goofy grin, and started kissing him again.

They missed a good portion of the roughly twenty minute long firework show, but he didn't care. He loved kissing Kurt, and he missed it. It was a little different than usual though. Their kisses were much needier, and involved a lot more tongue too, but Blaine figured it was just because they missed each other. Also, there was something about kissing, that even though it was a completely arbitrary thing, it was almost addictive. You get in tune with frequent kissing, and there's no way you want to stop.

They didn't move immediately once the show was over, they stayed on the roof for a few minutes without saying anything until the cold became too much and they had to retreat inside.

"So, do you have any plans tonight?" Kurt asked as Blaine shut the balcony doors after the climbed back into the bedroom.

"Uh, seeing as it's midnight, I'd say no." Blaine said with a chuckle.

Kurt shoved his shoulder playfully. "Well, Mercedes was telling me how some people were planning on going to Denny's, if you'd like to join us."

Blaine hummed. "Well, as much as I love shitty breakfast food at all hours of the day, I'm not sure I can go anywhere with you right now without ripping your clothes off."

Kurt's cheeks turned pink and Blaine brushed his thumb over it. "I'm kidding. I'd love to, but I _wasn't _kidding about the clothes thing. I haven't seen you in a week, I start to get attuned. Not to mention, you're wearing my clothes," he said, gazing at Kurt's chest, accentuated perfectly in Blaine's sweater. "Which I think is definitely on its way to becoming a kink for me."

"Well," Kurt said, running his fingers down Blaine's chest. "I'm free tomorrow – or later today, so maybe you could come over and we can catch up?"

Blaine grinned and said, "You know me so well."

Kurt giggled and grabbed his hands, saying, "I missed you."

Blaine smiled sweetly, ducking his head and holding Kurt's hands tighter. "I missed you too." He mumbled before taking Kurt's lips in his own again, pulling Kurt's bottom lip between his. Kurt pulled back smiling. "Let's pause for a little, okay? Our friends are waiting for us."

Blaine grinned and pecked his lips before he followed him downstairs to where Mercedes was waiting. She grinned at them and pulled Blaine in for a hug. Blaine hugged her back but glanced at Kurt with wide eyes. Affection from someone other than Kurt was still pretty unfamiliar to him.

"Nice to see you, white boy," she said before pulling back and looking at him again. "Well, sort of white boy."

Blaine laughed and Kurt said to them, "C'mon, everyone else already left."

They walked out to the cars and Mercedes got in with Kurt, Blaine took Mary's van and they first went to Blaine's house to bring the car back before he joined them in Kurt's car and drove to Denny's.

Their friends were already there; everyone from the glee club. Blaine wondered if he hadn't found Kurt, who at McKinley he'd be friends with, because he hates almost everyone at that school. But the glee club guys were pretty cool people, generally speaking.

Kurt sat down at patted the chair beside him for Blaine to sit, and he smiled and sat down, Puck on his other side. "Oh, I get it," Puck said to him, turning away from his conversation with Finn. "You only come in time for macking it at midnight and Denny's."

"I just got back!" Blaine argued before Sam called his attention.

"Where did you go, man? You're wicked dark now." Blaine glanced at his arms. He'd gotten tan after spending a week outside on a boat chasing around a pair of little kids. Before he actually answered, a waitress came over with a few drinks, taking orders for more.

It took a good ten minutes for her to take down their orders, given that several people were trying to talk at once and others hadn't even opened their menus yet. When they all got their orders in, they started talking again. Apparently the talk was about Regionals.

"I don't care what Mr. Schue says, we should do what we did at sectionals." Santana was saying to anyone who was listening.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "The only way we will win is I have a solo."

"Shut up, dwarf." Santana retorted nastily. Of course, that led into the two girls arguing over which of them deserved a solo more. Blaine tuned out for a while and paid attention to Kurt. Kurt's right hand was sitting on the table and Blaine brushed his thumb over it as he realized Kurt was wearing the ring he got him still.

Kurt smiled at him when he realized what had captured Blaine's attention. "I haven't taken it off since you put it on."

Blaine's hand plunged into the collar of his shirt and he fumbled for a second before he pulled out his necklace. "I haven't either, I started getting a tan line from this."

Kurt laughed and played with his ring. "Well, I did think about you a lot."

Blaine smiled and scratched the back of his neck. "Me too. I really missed you." He muttered, taking a sip out of Kurt's water.

"Hey!" Kurt said, claiming his drink.

"Don't 'hey' me, mister, I didn't even _get _a drink." He said playfully, his grin eating up his face.

Other people had to notice when his smile got all big and toothy and dorky like this, and Blaine usually made more of an effort to hide it, but he finally seeing Kurt again after a week with two seven year olds and _John_, he was going to smile as much as he damn well liked.

"Blaine!" Someone called. He turned from Kurt and saw Tina, half sitting on Mike, looking at him. "How was your vacation?"

He shrugged. "Could've been worse; I mostly only babysat, I had to spend time with my uncle, which is always a blast," he rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I'd rather have been in Lima."

Tina's brow furrowed. "What's wrong with your uncle?" she asked, leaning on his elbows to talk to Blaine, Puck and Finn between them having their own conversation.

"A lot." Blaine said sardonically. Tina raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "He's homophobic, and he hated my dad, therefore he hates me," he patted her hand with a sarcastic chuckle. "Just men being men."

"Why did he hate your dad?" she asked curiously.

"Everyone hated my dad." He said shortly. Tina gave that look again for more explanation and Blaine sighed as he answered. "He was just a bad guy, Tina. He was a drunk, he was abusive, he was a flake, he was an asshole."

She nodded slowly. "You hated your dad too." She surmised. Blaine nodded and she asked, "Can I ask why? I mean, more specifically?"

"Same reasons as everyone else…" Tina nodded slowly and was going to stop pushing it, but Blaine _wanted _to tell her the truth. All of it, that is. Why? Undetermined. "He hated me first," he started, grabbing her attention again. "I'm an only child, he didn't want me, he blamed my mom getting pregnant with me the reason his rock and roll career could never take off." He rolled his eyes again. "So he resented me for most of my childhood. And growing up with him just sucked. He warped my view of the world for a few years, quite honestly. He and my mom were the only adults I encountered, I thought that marriage just sucked for everyone, and it followed their pattern; kid messes up, dad gets pissed, takes it out on kid. Or the alternative, kid messes up, dad gets pissed, and takes it out on mom."

He shrugged nonchalantly. He saw the look of poorly concealed horror on Tina's face and almost felt bad. But he wasn't really doing it for Tina, he thinks he was doing it for himself. "I thought that was normal, cause I wasn't allowed to have friends, so I was never told otherwise, mom's friends never came over, he didn't have any except his drinking buddies who were exactly the same as him. All he did was drink and smoke and boss my mom around – and that was on a good day."

Tina shook her head slowly, she didn't seem like she knew she was doing it either. "Blaine, that's horrible."

"Well, if you ever wondered why _I'm _horrible," Blaine teased with a shit eating grin.

Tina shook her head more firmly. "You're not horrible. Not at all." She said. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, it's awful that anyone should."

"Well, it's not all bad," he said. "To follow the cliché, it definitely made me stronger." Tina didn't look at all comforted. "I'm serious; I was that kid who, if you took his lunch, would start packing two just so he could give you one." She laughed and Blaine felt Kurt take his hand under the table.

Kurt was watching Mercedes talk, but Blaine didn't think he knew what she was talking about. He hadn't considered that Kurt might've been listening to his conversation, but he was glad he did it discreetly so he wouldn't call anymore attention to it.

Puck and Finn though, seemed less concerned with acting like they weren't eaves dropping. To be fair, Blaine and Tina were talking over them, but still. "What happened?" Finn asked.

Blaine raised his eyebrows at him and he explained, "I mean, that was when you were little, what happened after that?"

"Oh," Blaine hadn't thought about it in a while. He preferred to think about a lot of things never happening, it was just easier. "Well, my teachers at school started noticing bruises, so I was sent to my guidance counselor for him to ask, _Blaine, have your parents ever hit you?_ and whatever else. Before anyone really did anything about it though, I was shipped off to boarding school."

He missed boarding school. He wouldn't want to leave McKinley for it now, but he did miss it. It was the first time he'd ever been away from home for longer than a sleepover, it was almost like Christmas came early, except that he saw his mom less and less.

"Then I had to go home when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, my dad divorced her and took off, and I think you're all caught up after that." He finished simply. He didn't like going into detail once he got to the part about his mom getting sick, it was still too new, and he hadn't told anyone, not even Kurt, all the details.

His phone started going off in his pocket and he excused himself, walking out towards the waiting area and answering. "Hello?"

"Blaine, thank god you answered," Mary's voice filled his ear. "Where are you?"

"Denny's, I –"

"Okay, I'm going to swing by and leave Rosie with you, okay?" she said, not pausing to breath.

"Wha-?"

"Ben ran into that damn desk in the office he always bumps into and split his chin open. John and I are taking him to the ER right now, so I'm going to leave Rosie with you, okay?"

"Sure, I'll be here," he said breathlessly.

Mary hung up and Blaine took a deep breath to calm his frazzled nerves before pocketing his phone and walking back over to the table. Kurt looked at him curiously and Blaine said, "Rosie's going to be here soon."

Kurt choked on the water he had in his mouth. "Your – your cousin's going to be here? Your seven year old cousin?"

Blaine nodded. "Ben split his chin open, they're taking him to the ER and are dropping Rosie off here on the way to the hospital. I have no idea what mental state she'll be in though, she doesn't handle stress well."

Kurt seemed as overwhelmed as he felt. "Okay, she's coming here." He said, pushing up his hair. "Okay," he repeated before calling over the table to get everyone's attention.

"Blaine's cousin is going to be here soon, because her parents have to take her brother to the hospital, so behave? She's seven, try not to mentally scar her too much." He said, getting a smile from Blaine.

"You have cousins?" Sam asked after a beat of silence for everyone to process what they just heard. Blaine nodded and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"What's her name?" Quinn asked. "She might not be as intimidated by us if we show her we're friendly."

"Rosie." Blaine answered as his phone vibrating with Mary's text message informing him they'd arrived. He pulled on his coat and hurried outside where he saw John driving the mom van, practically pulling out of the parking lot already.

He ran over to Rosie and picked her up when she saw she wasn't wearing shoes. Why the hell didn't John or Mary make sure she had footwear on, given there was snow on the ground. Rosie was already crying and started crying harder when Blaine picked her up.

He hurried back inside, sending a wide eyed look at the New Directions as he walked in with a crying child in his arms. He stayed by the waiting area at the front of the restaurant and sat Rosie down on the bench, kneeling in front of her.

"I'm c-c-cold." She stuttered, hiccupping because of her tears. Blaine immediately shrugged off his coat and pulled it around her, deftly rolling the sleeves several times for her. It went down to her knees, but at least it was something. All she was wearing was her fuzzy pink two piece pajama set, her hair mussed from sleeping, her hands shaking, and her feet red from standing barefoot on a snowy parking lot. "My feet hurt." She whimpered, clutching them with her hands.

Blaine sat on the bench next to her, pulling off his boots and working off his socks. He had to wear fuzzy socks with his winter boots because they were a hair too big, and it was annoying because it made his feet sweat when he wasn't outside, but he was thanking god for it right in that moment. He pulled his socks onto Rosie's red raw feet and pulled his boots back onto his own sock-less feet.

Rosie was still crying and sniffling. Blaine turned her so she was facing him, but she wouldn't look at him. "Don't cry, Rose, you're okay."

She sniffed. "I wanted to go with mommy and daddy," She said, her voice trembling. "'n they wouldn't let me."

"Hey, this is better!" he said in a hushed, but excited voice. "Hospitals are boring and smelly, right? Here, you can get warm food in your tummy," he said, poking her in the stomach. "And I can take you home right after. Doesn't that sound better?"

It took her a long moment, but she nodded begrudgingly, still sniffling. Blaine grabbed a napkin from the closest table and held it to her nose. She blew but pushed his hand away, still pouting. She looked up at Blaine with big eyes, still shining with tears. "Do mommy and daddy like Ben better now?"

"Of course not, princess," he cooed, pulling her into his lap when she started crying for real again. He petted her hair and she buried her face in his chest. "Ben got hurt, so they're just focusing on getting him all better. Remember that time you broke your big toe running around on rocks?" she nodded. "They took care of you first, because you were hurt and needed to get better. Okay?"

Rosie lifted her head and nodded slowly. "Are you hungry? Because I ordered pancakes, and I know how much you love them." She started smiling but trying to hide it, and Blaine tickled her for a few seconds before she couldn't keep pouting and had to laugh. "C'mon, Rose, I can introduce you to my friends."

She froze and looked over at the table, her mouth falling open. Several of Blaine's friends were looking at them and Rose started to look nervous. "If you want, you can talk to Kurt, he's here, he's sitting right next to me."

Rosie's eyes lit up. "Did you give him the cookie I made him?"

"I did, he loved it." She grinned widely and nodded.

"We can go over." She decided. Blaine stood up and Rosie climbed into his arms as their waitress started handing their food out. Once she was done she stepped towards Blaine. "Do you want me to get anything for this one?" she asked, looking at Rosie.

"Just a kid's cup of milk, preferably once with a cover." He said, thanking the waitress at she walked away.

He sat down, Rosie in his lap. He did a quick run through of everyone's name for her, and afterwards whispered in her ear, "You don't have to remember all of them."

She nodded, and waved at everyone seated at the table. Everyone started eating, Rosie eating some of Blaine's food and sipping her milk. She looked up at her cousin and asked, "Why can't I sit in my own chair?"

"Because you're going to sit right here," he answered in that tone of voice parents used to let their child know it wasn't up for discussion without sounding too mean. Rosie pouted and he said in a lighter tone, "C'mon, princess, it's an honor to sit here."

"It's true," Santana interjected across the table. "Kurt's dying to trade spots with you."

Rosie didn't understand _why _everyone at the table started laughing, but she looked pleased all the same. She didn't voice any concerns about the seating arrangement again. Blaine had to send his aunt a quick text to let her know Rosie was there and okay, and Rosie took the time to talk to Kurt about the Christmas cookie she made him.

"Wait, you made a Kurt cookie?" Finn asked. Rosie nodded with a proud grin on her face. "What about a Finn cookie?" he asked playfully, grinning at Rosie.

Her eyes grew suddenly wide. "I can make more! I love making cookies!" Blaine gave Finn the darkest, dirtiest look he could muster and Finn shrunk back in his seat but was still grinning. "Blainey, can we make cookies tonight?"

"Not tonight," he said.

"But, _B_-" she whined.

"Rosheen, it is _way _past your bedtime, it's past my bedtime too, no cookies tonight." She sighed and slumped against Blaine's chest, crossing her arms across her chest. Blaine turned to Finn and gestured to the pouting child on his lap. "Do you see what you did?"

Finn snorted and Puck said, "You know, you should just let her have cookies tonight."

Rosie whipped around and faced Blaine, grinning up at him and tugging on his shirt. "See? Your friends agree, now we have to."

Blaine laughed aloud. "This doesn't change anything!"

"What does Kurt think?" Santana wondered from across the table, resting her chin on her hands and grinning at Blaine with a wicked smile.

Rosie looked at Kurt too and said, "Yeah, what does Kurt think?"

"Don't drag Kurt into this," he told his cousin before looking at Santana. "Don't encourage her."

"Well…" Blaine looked to Kurt too as he slowly answered, biting on his lower lip. "It _is _really late,"

Rosie groaned and Blaine mouthed _thank you_ at him. "But _Kurt_." Rosie whined. "School's gonna start again soon and we're not gonna have time!"

Kurt flicked his eyes between the two of them for a moment before he said quickly, "How about first thing in the morning?"

Rosie cheered and grabbed Blaine's pinky with her own. "Pinky promise, now you have to!" Blaine didn't even bother protesting her.

He turned to Kurt and said lowly, "You did this, and now you have to help."

"What?" Kurt protested. "I am so _not _responsible for this!" he argued adamantly. Blaine just nodded at him.

A little while later, Rosie started fidgeting again in Blaine's lap. He looked down at her and asked, "What is it?"

She lifted her up to see him and whispered, "I need to pee."

"The bathrooms are right there," he pointed to the doors in the back, just a few tables away. "Do you need me to bring you?"

"You can't go into the girl's bathroom, you're not a girl!" she declared adamantly.

"I can wait outside –" he laughed.

"I can bring her," Quinn volunteered a few seats away, standing up. "I was going to go anyways."

Rosie eyed her for a moment with pursed lips before she climbed off of Blaine and walked over to Quinn, taking her hand and walking with her, instantly yammering about princesses and how Quinn looks like a princess.

Kurt turned to Blaine with a grin and said to him, "You're really good with kids."

"I love kids." Blaine responded immediately. "But it's mostly that I just know Rose so well."

Kurt shrugged. "It's really cute, how much you love her."

Blaine blushed a little, scoffing, "Can you blame me?"

Kurt snorted. "No, I'm just saying, you could be like, a kindergarten teacher or something."

"You should be a guidance counselor," he responded. "You can assign everyone job occupations and talk about their problems, it'd be great."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous."

Blaine hummed in agreement. "Well, what can you do with me?"

Kurt turned to him, looking at him almost speculatively. "I haven't quite figured that out yet." He murmured as Quinn and Rosie came back out of the bathroom.

Not twenty minutes later, everyone slowly started finishing their food and paying their checks, getting ready to go. Rosie fell asleep on Blaine shortly after her bathroom break. Once everyone started departing, Blaine picked up his cousin and started to walk to the parking lot when he remembered Kurt drove him. Kurt walked out not a second later and smiled at Blaine, gesturing for him to follow as he made his way over to his car.

Blaine buckled Rosie in the back and sat up front as Kurt started the car. "You don't actually have to come over and make cookies with me." He said. "Just in case you weren't sure, but of course, your presence is always welcome."

"I may as well, given that I'm staying over tonight." Kurt responded easily.

"You're _what_?" Blaine exclaimed, almost positive he misheard him.

Kurt grinned at him. "Oh, did I forget to tell you? As far as everyone's concerned I'm going to drop you off and sleep over with Santana and Brittany."

"Kurt Hummel, you slippery little minx." He said. "Why are they agreeing to that? Santana loves to start rumors."

"She owes me a favor." Kurt answered enigmatically.

They got back to Blaine's house, and after putting Rosie in her bed, they brushed the Denny's out of their teeth, changed into pajamas, and headed into Blaine's room. It was too late to do much, especially since Rosie was sleeping a few doors down and more importantly, John would probably be home with Mary and Ben soon, and god knows he could not know Blaine had a boy in his bedroom, in his _bed _without his knowledge.

"What would you like to do?" Blaine asked quietly, meeting Kurt in the middle of the floor, lacing their fingers together.

"I have an idea," Kurt said with a lewd grin. He held onto one of Blaine's hands and tugged him over to the bed. He laid down and Blaine slowly climbed on top of him, settling on either side of Kurt's legs gingerly so he didn't overwhelm him. He knew that last time they were in a position like this, alone in a bedroom with no real time restrictions, things got ugly. But that was different, because they hadn't set boundaries yet, or thought about them, even privately, as a couple, they hardly knew each other. This was different, especially after their heated Christmas eve, eve, when they definitely explored some unknown territory.

He leaned down and pressed his lips to Kurt's softly, planning to take it slow, but Kurt immediately deepened the kiss, prying Blaine's closed lips open with his tongue and pulling Blaine closer by gripping the back of his head. Blaine's hands fell to his shirt and started fiddling with the buttons of Kurt's pajama top.

"Can I?" he asked, pulling away from Kurt's kiss, still hovering above him.

"Yeah," Kurt breathed, he sat up and helped Blaine undo the buttons of his patterned button up. Kurt pushed it off his shoulders, and Blaine could see it quite easily written on his face how nervous he was, given that it was the first time Blaine had seen Kurt with his shirt off. He glanced down at Kurt's naked torso and felt his breath leave him. God, Kurt was _perfect_.

He leaned down and kissed him again, tugging on Kurt's lips before he pulled back and said clearly, "You're gorgeous."

Needless to say, Blaine's shirt came off soon after that and it was Blaine's turn to feel self conscious, even though he'd been shirtless in front of him before, but Kurt seemed to enjoy his not wearing a shirt if kissing down Blaine's stomach was any indication. Blaine had heard a lot of arguments over the years about why gay couples are wrong and whatnot, one he never heard was the insecurities. Sure, that was just relationship stuff, but he couldn't help comparing himself to Kurt.

It was all small things that didn't matter though, like that Kurt had a flatter stomach than him, and he made Blaine realize his nipples were pretty small. Kurt didn't seem to share the same thoughts, and Blaine was feeling really grateful for his chest waxing habits, because Kurt was sucking all over his chest in a way that was definitely going to leave at least a few hickeys.

They finally fell asleep together close to two thirty, after talking for a little while, and kissing for a really long while. They'd pulled their shirts back on, and Kurt volunteered to sleep on Blaine's floor, but Blaine assured him his bed was large enough for both of them, given its disproportionate width. They got tucked in after Blaine peeked into Rosie's room again to make sure she was asleep. It took them a little while to get comfortable near each other to sleep, because Blaine didn't want to do anything that'd make Kurt uncomfortable, and Kurt was awkwardly moving like he wasn't sure what to do with himself. After about five minutes of hesitant shuffling, Blaine just said _screw it_ and snuggled into Kurt's chest, turning Kurt into the big spoon. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine after and Blaine figured they just needed a catalyst, because afterwards they moved with each other easily, adjusting whenever one of them moved to get more comfortable.

It was one of the best nights sleep Blaine had had in a very, very long time.

**?!**

Blaine woke up groggily, feeling something warm on his throat. Oh, those were lips. He opened his eyes slowly as the light invaded his sight and he turned his head and saw Kurt, half on top of him, pressing light kisses all over his neck. The corners of his mouth turned up when he saw Blaine was awake and he murmured into his neck, "Morning, handsome."

Blaine smiled and turned more so Kurt was propping himself up directly on top of him. "Good morning."

Kurt leaned down and kissed Blaine's lips, lowering himself down gently so their bodies were on top of each others. Blaine hummed into a kiss and said, "I like it when you sleep over. You wake me up with kisses and compliments."

Kurt giggled. "What can I say; you're cute in the morning."

"Am I not cute the rest of the day?"

"That sounds about right." Kurt answered cheekily.

Blaine laughed and grabbed Kurt's waist with both of his hands and rolled them over, laying on top of Kurt. They both grinned into the next kiss. "Well if you only like me in the morning, I may as well get the most out of it."

Kurt grinned and reached up to kiss him again when a soft, tentative knock disrupted their moment. Kurt's eyes widened. "Crap, do you think it's John or Mary?"

Blaine rolled off of him, "I hope not." He muttered, climbing off the bed and opening the door just enough so that no one outside would be able to see Kurt. It didn't matter though, it was only Ben.

He was rubbing his eyes drowsily and cradling his movie blanket in his other arm. He looked up at Blaine with tired eyes. "Mommy and daddy aren't home and my chin hurts."

Blaine kneeled down to his level and looked at his chin, red with irritation and stitches. "I'll be downstairs in a minute, alright, bud? We'll get something for your chin."

Ben nodded and walked away, Blaine left his door open. He turned to Kurt and offered him his hands to help him up. Kurt stood up and walked with him downstairs where Rosie was sitting at the dining room table with a bowl of cereal and Ben was laying his head on the table.

On the counter was a bottle of prescription pain meds for Ben and a note from Mary telling Blaine to give them to Ben when he woke up. Kurt started fixing them breakfast and Blaine gave Ben his medicine and a glass of water.

"Blaine?" he turned to Rosie who was watching Kurt. "Why's Kurt here?"

"To make cookies, silly." He said, watching Ben to make sure he took his meds.

**?!**

With the smell of cookies in the oven, Kurt's legs around his waist so he could lay on his chest and watch early morning cartoons, it was perfectly serene, and so… domestic. Blaine turned so he could sort of see Kurt's face and said, "So, I have a proposition for you."

"How formal. What is it?" Kurt asks, combing through Blaine's bed head.

Blaine sat up, wiggling out of Kurt's hold and turning towards him. Kurt looked more attentive, looking Blaine straight in the eye. Blaine missed having contact between them, so he took Kurt's hand and threaded their fingers together.

"I've been thinking," he started, hating how cliché he sounded. "About how much I love spending time with you, and how much more time we'd have if we were say, into the same kinds of things." Kurt looked puzzled. "I mean, it wouldn't be that big a stretch for me, because it used to be my thing too, so I was thinking about it and," he took a moment to pause and stop acting so ridiculously nervous. It wasn't like it'd be the end of the world if Kurt said no, so why did he have to make such a fuss?

"I was just wondering what you thought about me joining glee club." He said lucidly, looking Kurt straight in the eye.

"Seriously? You'd want to?" Kurt asked importantly. Blaine nodded and Kurt grew an ear to ear grin and exclaimed, "Of course I want you to join, I said that _months _ago!"

"A lot can change in a month." Blaine pointed out.

Kurt threw his arms around Blaine's shoulders and hugged him, saying, "This didn't, of course I still want you to join. It'll make rehearsal a lot more fun for me."

"You're positive?" Blaine asked, holding Kurt's waist.

"Yes, of course, you'll love it there! You're already friends with most everyone in the glee club, and you're talented, they'll love having you there." Kurt encouraged, his eyes filled with excitement.

It was that excitement that made him join. The next day, when they were back in school and Blaine needed to talk to the creepy director, and he realized he'd have to listen to Berry twice as often, and he was supposed to sing about his feelings every week, he reminded himself of Kurt's joy from the day before as his motivation to go through with it.

"Hey, Mr. Schue?" Blaine said, tapping his door during his lunch and Mr. Schue's plan period.

He looked up from his computer with a smile. "Hi, Blaine, is that right?"

"Yeah, that's my name." he said, stepping into the office and gripping the straps of his backpack.

"What's up?" the teacher asked, leaning back in his chair to show Blaine he had his full attention.

"I just wanted to talk to you about possibly joining glee club…?" he said slowly and tentatively. Kurt didn't tell him how exactly he was supposed to go about this.

But Schue's eyes lit up with excitement. "Great," he said, sitting up, "take a seat for a minute." He said, gesturing to the chairs in front of him. Yeah, Blaine was regretting joining a little bit. There was just something about Mr. Schue and all his sweater vests that just creeped him out.

"So what voice part are you?" he asked eagerly.

"Tenor, I guess." He answered morosely, reminding himself he was doing this for Kurt. This was to spend more time with him, and to build their relationship, and get more involved in Kurt's life, and whatnot.

"Perfect, that's just what we need," the teacher said, grinning. "Now, have you had any problems with any of the kids in the club before? We really don't need anymore drama."

"Oh, yeah," Blaine chuckled. Mr. Schue's expression fell. "Finn and I had some pretty big problems a while back, but we're cool now. I mean, I'm sort of dating his brother, so…"

"Kurt?" the teacher clarified. Blaine nodded, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He answered a few more boring questions for Mr. Schue before hurrying to lunch where he had like, ten minutes to eat because Mr. Schue wouldn't shut up. He didn't tell anyone besides Kurt about it, and tried to forget about it completely until he walked into the choir room with the director.

"New Directions," Mr. Schuester said at the start of his very first glee rehearsal ever on the first day back from break. "Please welcome our newest member, Blaine Anderson."

He had Blaine stand at the front of the room with him, looking out on the glee club. Unsurprisingly, many of them looked shocked. Mike and Tina both looked pleased, Kurt had a huge grin on his face that made Blaine smile. Kurt was just really cute, so what.

Schuester turned to him and asked, "Do you have anything prepared for us?"

"Like an audition?" Blaine asked, scratching the back of his head. Mr. Schue nodded and Blaine ran through his mind of all his old audition pieces, all the songs he did in his old choir and just for fun. His eyes wandered around the room for inspiration and got caught on Kurt, sitting in the back row with a smile playing on his lips. "Um… yeah, I think I have something."

"Great," Mr. Schue said, sitting down next to Artie in the front row. Blaine tried to remember all the chords in his head and how to play it as he walked over to the piano.

"I've got this covered," he said to the guy sitting at the piano. He didn't give music or anything to the band, because this was one he usually did by himself anyways, he didn't need them.

He gave himself a minute to acquaint himself with the piano before he played the intro.

**You think I'm pretty **

**Without any makeup on**

**You think I'm funny**

**When I tell the punchline wrong**

He looked over at the glee club and saw their reactions reflected pretty much how little they expected Blaine to sing a cheesy top 40's love song. Blaine would be surprised too from the outside, because he really just didn't seem the type; he wore an old leather jacket and drove a motorcycle, he'd given most everyone at this school an enigmatic image of him, they probably expected like, The Who or someone. If he had to guess, they probably thought he was going to suck too.

The band played along after the first chorus, picking up pretty easily. His version wasn't very different from the original at all, it was just a piano acoustic. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Kurt for too long at a time, because _ugh_ he was adorable, and he loved seeing him blush, and he loved seeing all their friends poking fun at him in their seats. A few people started singing along at the choruses, like Tina and Quinn, and he appreciated it. He hadn't expected it, but he probably should have, given how freaking weird they all were.

He finished his song and stood up to some applause from the glee club, Rachel and Finn looking extremely enthused, but he was paying more attention to Kurt, because he was still blushing because of the significance behind that song, and yeah, he probably didn't expect Blaine to remember that was the first song he sung for him. He nodded to Mr. Schue as he started the lesson and walked over to sit beside Kurt in the back, resisting tooth and nail to _not _kiss him, because their friends weren't in clue with their… thing, so he didn't kiss him as much as he wanted to, and settled to covertly brush his hand over Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt turned to him, biting his lip. "I can't believe you did this." he mumbled. "Oh, my god, you're the most embarrassing person in the world. You're worse than my dad."

Blaine groaned. "Please do not compare me to your dad." He grumbled, shuffling his chair a little closer to Kurt's.

Then, he attended his very first glee club lesson (lesson? Class? Rehearsal?) and it was… fun. A lot more fun than he expected. He forgot how much he loved being in glee club, especially because Kurt was there, and the people there still seemed to _like _him, so yeah, it was kind of an awesome start to the new year.


	9. I Really Want To Come Kick It With You

**Warning for underage drug use (cigarettes, if they count as drugs), and some offensive language. Kind of a filler chapter, sorry. Update soon.**

They were laying on Kurt's bed, side by side, staring at the ceiling trying to make shapes out of the bumps and cracks in the ceiling. It was the first time in a while they were on a bed together and they weren't making out or napping, because they did quite a lot of both. But no, they were just laying there, their hands loosely clasped together between them, pointing out shapes they found or just humming tunelessly, taking in the scent of fresh sheets.

Then there was a knock on the door. Blaine groaned, pulling their hands up to their heads, holding Kurt's on the side of his pillow just beside his ear. The door slowly creaked open and Finn walked in, and smiled when he saw they weren't doing anything he didn't want to see, and stepped in the room.

"Hey guys," he greeted them cheerfully. "There's gonna be a little party/sleepover thing tonight at Quinn's place." He informed them, rocking on his heels like an excited child. "The whole glee club's going, you're totally invited if you wanna come, it's not gonna be super intense or anything, it's just to have some fun, and bond as a glee club, 'specially cause Blaine and Zizes are new."

Kurt turned to the boy on his right and asked, "You want to go?"

"Can't; babysitting tonight, remember?" Oh, right, he agreed to help him with that.

"Oh, that's right, we told Mary we'd help her out."

"Oh, it's okay, you don't have to." Blaine assured him. "Go to the party, hang out with your friends for tonight. I'll pick you up tomorrow and we can go get some breakfast." He said with a content little smile.

Kurt returned the smile before he tilted his head slightly up to look at his stepbrother. "Sure, Finn, you want to give me a ride?"

"Sure!" Finn said, typing something into his phone. "We're gonna leave at like, seven, okay?"

He hummed, lying back down, and as Finn left, squirmed a little to get comfortable again. He laid back on his side, facing Blaine and said to him, "You sure you don't mind me skipping out on babysitting?"

Blaine copied his position. "I'm sure. It'll be good for you to hang out with your friends without me, maybe it'll even get Rachel off my back." Kurt raised his eyebrows. "She talked at me for about ten minutes the other day about how our spending time together is becoming detrimental to your friendship." He explained, rolling his eyes but smiling.

Kurt snorted. "Yeah, _that's_ why I don't like spending time with her," he teased. "But yeah, breakfast sounds good for tomorrow, we haven't gone out to eat in a while."

Blaine hummed. "_Speaking _of things we haven't done in a while…" he murmured, sitting up on his elbows.

Kurt flushed. "Don't you dare," he warned, looking at Blaine sternly.

He laughed. "Kurt Hummel," he admonished playfully. "I was talking about going _dancing_, you get your mind out of the gutter!"

Kurt rolled his eyes and glanced down at Blaine's pink lips for just a second before leaning up and pecking them, barely grazing their lips much at all. Blaine smiled and muttered, "If you're going to kiss me, you at least have to kiss me for real."

He leaned down and pressed his lips to Kurt's, tugging on his bottom lip the way he knew Kurt loved. Blaine pulled back and smiled brightly at him, hovering over him a bit, his bottom half still on the bed beside Kurt. Kurt grabbed the collar of his polo shirt and tugged him down again, kissing him slowly, Blaine's arms propped up on either side of Kurt's head to keep him elevated.

Kurt wasn't exactly sure when their soft, sweet kisses stopped feeling like enough, but fairly quickly he was gripping Blaine shirt, their lips smacking together, their breath getting ragged. He could feel his jeans starting to feel just a little too tight in the front, and he begged against Blaine's lips, "_More_,"

Blaine kissed down his neck, Kurt threw his head back to give him more space. "More? More what?"

"I don't know," he breathed, "just more."

Blaine threw his legs over Kurt's waist and seated himself on Kurt's lap, keeping himself up so not all his weight was on him. He kissed Kurt's lips again, holding onto the nape of his neck with one hand, trailing down Kurt's chest with the other. He slowly pressed himself further down on Kurt, getting a small shudder from the latter, and experimentally rubbed himself across the front of Kurt's jeans.

Kurt whimpered into his mouth softly, and Blaine pulled back, "Are you okay? Is this okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's okay." He said, allowing for Blaine to continue moving. "It feels good."

Blaine slid across his lap with growing certainty, pressing kisses across Kurt's jaw. "Oh, yeah? How good? Tell me how good it feels."

It feels like a horny teenage boy getting his genitals rubbed against the horny teenage boy he's in love with. It feels like more than he imagined grinding would ever be like, because he was still feeling more than the physical. He was still acutely aware of his still developing feelings for Blaine, and he was more aware of the feelings Blaine had for _him_, which he found himself thinking about fairly often.

Blaine nipped at his lips, reminding him he was waiting for an answer. "It feels amazing." He responded finally. "It feels like more than I ever expected someone to make my feel in high school."

Blaine seemed to like his answer, and he grinned before kissing him again, tracing Kurt's lips with his tongue, rolling his hips against the other boy's. They were having a quiet afternoon together before, and it was lovely, it really was, but this was also lovely, and very fun, and it was good to get your heart racing every once in a while, right?

Blaine's hand groped around at his waist and plucked up the bottom of his shirt, starting to inch it up before Kurt's hands stopped him. "I'm not – I'm not ready for-"

Blaine just nodded and pecked his lips, bringing his shirt back down. "That's okay, no pressure," he assured him, "Just tell me when's when." He said, kissing him again.

It might've been pathetic to someone else that Blaine was able to make him come with just grinding and a quick, finishing Handjob, but someone else had not experienced how well Blaine knew to use his hips, or how much of an amazing kisser he was, because he was an _amazing _kisser.

Blaine just jerked himself off after him, because Kurt was still a little too nervous to… _touch_, but it was fun to watch nonetheless. Of course, after that messy exchange, he was going to have to change his sheets _again_.

They just settled back on the mattress afterward, not bothering with sheets yet, laying side by side, looking up at the ceiling. "Sorry about the stoppage earlier, I know it's nothing new, I'm just not really…"

Blaine turned his head to him quickly, his eyebrows furrowed. "Hey, don't apologize for what you are and aren't comfortable with," he censured. "I _want _you to tell me if there's ever anything we do that you're not ready for. I need to know that you're comfortable… so I can be comfortable." He murmured, looking Kurt importantly in the eye. "Besides… even kissing you is kind of a dream come true."

Kurt blushed at the tips of his ears. "Dream come true, huh?"

Blaine grinned. "Definitely. Have you ever looked in a mirror?" he asked. "Plus, you're funny, and witty, and smart, and obnoxiously talented," he listed, Kurt blushed a little more. "You're like, my dream guy."

He turned to Blaine completely, his ears and cheeks still pink. "Well, I'm not a dream." He informed him lightly, looking over Blaine's soft features.

"That's true," he agreed, "You're so much better than a dream, because you're _real_." They didn't say much for a while until Blaine's phone started going off and he sighed. "That's Mary. I have to go, sweetie, I'll text you in the morning?"

Kurt nodded, trying to hide the smile that started forming when Blaine called him 'sweetie'. He pecked his lips and got off the bed, grabbing his phone from the bedside table. "See you in the morning." He said, sending Kurt a coy smile and a wink before leaving. That boy was going to be the death of him…

He went over to Quinn's place with Finn at seven, bringing his overnight bag as was advised. They went inside, Finn opening the door without knocking, and pointedly ignored Rachel waiting in the kitchen, who instead descended on Kurt.

"Kurt, you made it!" she cheered excitedly. She looked behind him, looking around a bit, "Is Blaine not here with you?"

He shook his head and walked in, shrugging off his shoulders and hanging it with the rest, following her into Quinn's living room, where everyone else already was lounging. Puck looked up at him and asked, "Yo, where's Anderson?"

"Babysitting." He answered, sitting beside Mercedes.

Santana rolled her eyes. "I thought the point of this completely alcohol free event was inducting Blanderson and Zizes. How can we do that if he's not even here?"

Finn shrugged. "We can just have fun," he said. "I mean, it's not like we don't already all know Blaine." He pointed out.

"Well, I'm bored, let's do something." Mercedes said, sitting up straighter.

"Let's play never have I ever." Santana suggested, crawling onto the floor. "Since it's the only game we can enjoy without booze."

Everyone slowly meandered into a circle on the floor; Kurt was kind of wishing he'd just followed through on babysitting. He loved spending time with the glee club, but there was just something about that night that was just giving him a headache. All he knew, was _he_ wanted Blaine there, everyone else wanted Blaine there, Blaine wanted to be there, and he _wasn't_ there. He kind of just felt like moping.

Santana was the first to volunteer. "Never have I ever dyed my hair." She looked around at their shocked faces. "What? I can't think of anything sexual I haven't done."

Kurt rolled his eyes and Tina and Sam both lifted a finger. Santana pointed at Tina, who thought for a moment before deciding, "Never have I ever kissed on a first date."

Kurt had to raise a finger for that, because he and Blaine kissed on their first real date, and he technically kissed Brittany on their first 'date'.

He was of a small amount to raise his finger, so he couldn't really hide it. "Really, Hummel? Didn't expect that from you."

He shrugged and Sam went next. He didn't have to put down many fingers after that, as the questions were _gone to a concert, _and _gone out drinking_, and _had sex._

He went next, deciding to go with, "Never have I ever… smoked a cigarette."

Santana and Puck both put a finger down, but Santana raised her eyebrows at him. "Really? Anderson hasn't influenced you?"

"Blaine doesn't smoke." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"Still hasn't made you fun either though." Puck interjected, ignoring the glare he got from Kurt. "What? You haven't ever smoked, not even to try it, you

He didn't pay much attention to the game after that, his mind filling up with insecurities about whether he was fun, and wondering. About himself, about Blaine, just wondering what Santana and Puck would consider _fun_.

He just pulled out his phone and shot off a quick message to Blaine.

_Are you doing anything this weekend?_

**Evita this weekend, remember? And breakfast too, unless you're backing out**

_Of course not, you want to do anything else tomorrow? Are you busy?_

**Course not, we can go out if you'd like. Anything special you had in mind?**

_Something new_

He stopped checking his phone after that, shutting it off and putting it on the dresser so he wouldn't be tempted. He always hated it when he was with his friends and they chose their phone over him, and he didn't want to do that, even though he'd rather be talking to Blaine than talking to Santana, who was being fairly persistent about learning more about him and his relationship with Blaine.

He lounged out on the couch with Brittany's head in his lap. They fell asleep in that position not too long later, since they'd been still for so long; they were chatting for a while, while a game of spin-the-bottle was taking place on the floor. He'd set an alarm on his phone for eight thirty, because Blaine's was going to be there at nine, but he'd forgotten he shut his phone off the night before and his alarm didn't go off.

So he was woken up by Rachel's pealing laughter from the kitchen. He didn't think of it as much, and his head was swimming somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness.

He felt lips press against his temple. He just smiled and squirmed a little, blinking his eyes open, and seeing Blaine crouched in front of him, wearing a pea coat and a scarf. "Hi," he greeted him gently.

Kurt just hummed, still waking up, and then registering Brittany's head still on his lap. "Are you still up for breakfast? If not, I could come back in a few hours to pick you up for the show."

Kurt shook his head, sliding out from beneath Brittany, placing a pillow under her head as he lowered it back onto the couch. He stretched, his back cracking in a few different spots, Blaine looked around at their friends, sprawled out on the floor around them. He held out his hand and Kurt took it, snagging his bag from its spot beside the couch.

"Let me get changed, I'll be out in a minute." He said, sliding into the bathroom.

"I like you voice when you're sleepy." Blaine commented. "All tired and raspy, it's very sexy."

Kurt's cheeks went pink and he shut the door. He'd chosen his outfit the day before, and was glad he'd elected for a newsies cap, because he was so not in the mood to do his hair very much. So all he did was get dressed and brush his teeth before meeting Blaine again, pulling him to his car quickly so no one would wake up, and the only person they had to say goodbye to was Rachel.

They went to a small café for breakfast that he'd never actually heard of, just a few streets over from Blaine's house. Their coffee was more expensive, but considerably better than that of the Lima bean, and their scones were almost as good as his mom's old recipe.

"So how was the party?" Blaine asked between bites of biscotti.

"Boring. We didn't do much, but it would've been more fun if you were there." He responded, licking frosting off his lips.

Maybe it was something about the action, but Blaine apparently felt the need to lean across the table and press their lips together, picking icing up off of Kurt's lips. Kurt smiled at him once he sat back down, and Blaine just picked up the conversation like nothing happened. Due to Kurt's sleepy start, they had to hurry over to the theater so they wouldn't be late for the show.

Blaine handed over their tickets and took Kurt's hand, pulling him to the back row. They hadn't even done anything yet, but it was still a thousand times more fun than last night was for Kurt.

The only live performances he'd ever been to were the annual sing-along _Sound of Music_ performances in the fall, and he loved those. But this was something else entirely. Ohio was cultureless, so performances were far and few between, and it wasn't that _The Sounds of Music_ was done _well, _it was more his emotional attachment because of his mom. But this show was… wow. The cast was amazing, the pit was too, and the fact that it was a _date_ made it all the more amazing. God, he loved Blaine. He – he liked Blaine. He loved him as a friend. He… he and Blaine loved each other as friends. And they liked each other as more than friends, but they… yeah. No. Not really. But in the theater, sitting beside Blaine with their hands clasped between them and stage lights on Blaine's face, it was fun to think, _yeah, really_.

**?!**

Kurt had Blaine sit in his living room talking to his parents and Finn while he showered and got dressed for the rest of their evening. He had looked up what _new _thing he wanted to do, what new thing he wanted to do when he decided. There was a concert that night, a Queen Cover band, doing a free show at Faurot Park that evening. It wasn't that he felt like Santana and Puck had influenced him into wanting to try new things, it was more a matter of they'd brought to his attention how little he experimented, and what better time than in high school?

So he dressed warmly, because it was likely going to be fucking freezing, but he made sure to wear the scarf Blaine gave him and his favorite bomber hat. He went downstairs and grabbed Blaine off the couch, waving to his dad and Carole before pulling him outside.

"Where are we going?" he asked, hopping into the passenger side of his car. Kurt pulled out of the driveway.

"To the park. We're going to a concert. It'll probably suck, but I think it'll be fun." He said.

"A little cold for an outdoor concert, don't you think?"

Kurt shrugged. "We don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Of course I want to," Blaine said immediately. "I think a concert's a great date idea. I was just wondering if you'd want your first concert experience to be a little more magical."

Kurt snuck a look at him before turning back to the road. He blindly found Blaine's hand and held it over the console. "Every date with you is magical."

**?!**

They ducked under an awning at the concession stand an hour or two into the show. Blaine put his arm around Kurt's chilled shoulders and he leaned him. The Queen Cover band – as he assumed they would,- sucked pretty bad. Not bad enough they'd wanted to take off early, but something similar to karaoke night at the retro diner he attended with his family on occasion. A guy with blond dreadlocks turned away from his friends and towards the boys, a cigarette hanging from his lips. He looked them over and held out his pack to them. "You bros need a smoke?" he asked. "Helps numb the cold. 'Least I think it does."

Blaine started to say no, but Kurt reached out and took one from him, getting a grin from the guy who turned back around after nodding at him. "Kurt, what are you doing?"

"Trying something new." He answered easily, pressing a kiss onto Blaine's cheek.

Blaine looked confused, but fairly amused. "You know you can get addicted from just one, right? Smoking's bad for you." He said, snatching it from Kurt's fingers.

Kurt took his back, pressing Blaine against the wall of the concession. "Honey, relax. I'll be fine. Besides, I'm tired of being boring, _Kurt Hummel,_ who does the same things time and time again and never does _anything _exciting."

Blaine's brow furrowed. "You think you're boring?" he asked incredulously. Kurt shrugged. "Kurt, you're the most interesting kid in the world." He said, getting a disbelieving look from Kurt. He pulled Kurt into a quick kiss to try and prove his point. He pulled back slowly and looked him in the eye, nudging their noses together.

"You know you don't need to impress me, right?" he said lowly. "You're way beyond that." Kurt grew a small smile. "In fact, I'm _constantly _trying to impress _you_. Like, constantly."

Kurt laughed. "Really?"

Blaine nodded with a grin. "Really. Just wait until Valentine's, I'm going to impress the crap out of you."

He laughed. "Well, this is more about proving to _myself_ that I'm not boring. A sort of self esteem thing." He explained. Blaine nodded slowly, probably knowing Kurt well enough to know he wouldn't back down. "Have you ever smoked?" Kurt asked, turning the cigarette in his fingers.

"Once," Blaine answered, pressing closer to him. "I didn't like it, so I never did after that. And by the way, I won't stop you, but I'd like to put it out there now, that I do not approve."

Kurt just laughed again and held the cigarette toward Blaine. "Teach me how to smoke."

Blaine pursed his lips at him before taking the cig and placing it more properly in Kurt's fingers, having him hold it between his first and second knuckles. "Once it's lit, don't pull too much smoke into your mouth or you'll choke, and possibly get sick. And um, after that, hold it in your mouth for a couple seconds, and when you, you know, take a drag, just um, inhale deeply." He instructed. "And when you blow out, it's up to you if you want to do it slowly or all at once."

Kurt nodded, playing the instructions back and trying to remember them all. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's not like whether or not you learn how to smoke is going to define your high school career."

Kurt nodded. "I want to try."

Blaine tapped the shoulder of the guy who gave Kurt the cigarette. "Hey, can we steal a light?"

He nodded with a crooked grin. "Sure, thing, brotha," he said, pulling a lighter out of his pocket. He looked up at Kurt and lit his cigarette. "First time?"

He nodded and a girl with a nose piercing turned to them, "Don't be nervous, it's not hard."

The kid with blue hair beside her said, "It's easier than smoking a joint, that's for sure."

She snorted. "You're so full of shit."

Dreadlocks turned to them and said, "You two, shut it, just let the kid smoke."

Kurt flicked his eyes back to Blaine's and put the cigarette on his lips. He was probably over thinking it, trying to decide the best way to wrap his lips around it, but soon his attention was back to remembering how to smoke properly, as he took his first drag.

"Inhale with your lungs." The blue haired kid advised.

"Don't take too much smoke at once," Dreadlocks said. "I did my first time and I puked."

"That's 'cause you're a pussy." Nose piercing snorted.

Kurt coughed, too much smoke in his mouth and lungs, and he pulled the cig away from his lips and coughed out some of the smoke, Blaine rubbing his back soothingly. It tasted awful, honestly, but he was determined to do it right, at least once. So when he stopped coughing, he pulled it back to his lips and tried again, taking a less ambitious drag than the last, trying to breath with his lungs, before blowing the smoke out of his mouth, letting it dribble out, not putting too much force on it given most of his air supply was gone.

Blaine and the three kids with them gave him applause as he exhaled. "And the boy becomes a man," Blue hair narrated proudly, clapping him on the back.

Kurt grinned at them and they went back to their own thing, and he held the cig to Blaine. He tapped it on the end and placed it in his own mouth, taking a drag by hollowing out his cheeks, and blowing it back out easily. It was incredibly hot. Kurt knew it shouldn't have been as much of a turn on as it was, but there was just something about how Blaine's cheeks hollowed, and how easily he did it, plus the fact he was wearing his dad's old jacket, he looked almost _dangerous_. The kind of dangerous you wouldn't want to bring home to meet your parents. Probably the kind of dangerous the students of McKinley thought he was.

He took another drag before stubbing it onto a nearby ashtray until it stopped smoking, and leaving it. Kurt leaned against the wall, his head spinning a little bit. Blaine walked back over to him and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Kinda dizzy, kinda like I want to kiss you." He answered, grinning at Blaine, his voice a little raspy.

Blaine smiled and leaned forward, kissing Kurt with cold, slightly chapped lips. Kurt's tongue dipped inside Blaine's mouth and he quickly pulled back, retracting at the taste of his mouth, laughing. "You taste like an ashtray."

Blaine laughed and pressed their foreheads together and dug into his pocket. "Which is why whenever you smoke, you should have some pretty strong gum on you." He handed Kurt a stick of peppermint gum before taking once as well. "How'd you like it?"

"I didn't like it at all," he answered, needing to clear his throat. "You looked like you knew what you were doing though, you sure you've only smoked once?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's kind of something you don't forget, like how to cook pasta." He responded. "You still dizzy?"

Kurt shrugged, hearing the Freddie Mercury impersonator announce their last song. "A little, but not dizzy enough to not walk."

"Let's get out of here, it's almost time for your curfew." Blaine said, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist and walking them back to his car. "Do you want to stop anywhere for food? We have almost fifteen minutes."

"How about… Wendy's." Kurt said as they got over. Blaine opened the passenger side for him, and Kurt said, "Are you sure you're fine driving?"

Blaine walked over to the other side. "Kurt, I said I don't _like_ driving cars, not that I can't. besides, it's not like you can, you're practically intoxicated."

He drove them over, going through the drive-through and ordering, paying for both of them despite Kurt's protests. They sat in the parking lot eating for a few minutes before it got too close to eleven and Blaine brought them back to Kurt's house.

He didn't get out of the car to walk Kurt to the door, probably because he only had a few minutes before he'd be late for curfew, and it always took them longer to say goodbye when Blaine walked him to the door. So he just walked over to Blaine's side of the car where he brought down the window.

"Text me tomorrow?" Blaine requested.

"Of course," he agreed before leaning into the car and kissing Blaine firmly on the lips, now tasting like peppermint and French fries, with just a hint of smoke. "I'll see you on Monday."

"See you then," Blaine agreed, rolling up the window as Kurt walked away. Something Kurt appreciated was whenever he didn't walk Kurt to the door, Blaine always waited to make sure he got inside his house before driving away.

He walked inside at 10:57 pm, and dropped his coat at the door, bringing his scarf and his food upstairs, greeting his dad and Carole quickly, hurrying upstairs because the thought just occurred to him he could possibly still smell like smoke, and obviously Blaine wouldn't have noticed, because he would've smelled the same, but his dad _definitely _would've noticed, and _definitely_ would've killed him, and killed Blaine too.

So he ran up to his room, stopping at Finn's for a second to drop off the fries he got him before closing his door and changing out of his clothes, opting for pajamas, and snuggling under the covers with Joan Armatrading playing softly beside him. His phone vibrated with a text from Blaine, which he quickly opened up and waited for a picture to load.

**You know, bad boy Kurt has a ring to it. It's pretty hot too.**

Below was a picture of him smoking. It looked like it was from his second attempt, because he looked like he actually knew what he was doing. He hadn't even noticed Blaine take a picture, but he shouldn't have been all that surprised; Blaine _loved _taking pictures of him. He always took pictures when Kurt wasn't paying attention, and whenever he played on Kurt's phone he'd peek at his most recent pictures, and if any were selfies or just pictures of him, he'd send them to himself. He didn't really understand Blaine's fascination with taking and having pictures of him, but last he recalled, there were two pictures of him in Blaine's room; one beside his bed, a framed one of the two of them from their nap the day before Blaine left for his cruise that Carole or someone must've taken. The other was just a picture of Kurt at his locker, that Blaine loved for some reason, that was beside the picture he had of his mom on his dresser.

Kurt had never really understood before he met Blaine, how much you could feel for another person. You know, just how proud you can be of someone, or just how much you can be happy for someone. He'd felt it all before for his friends and dad, but never to the extent he could feel it for Blaine. One thing Blaine did, that Kurt never realized how important it was to him, was he showed how proud he was to be with Kurt. Even if they weren't explicit of how much he was with him, he never shied away from an opportunity to brag about Kurt, and while it was incredibly embarrassing, it was also something that made Kurt feel that kind of, _yeah, I'm falling in love with Blaine and not too scared to deny it to myself, _and that was a feeling that he tried not to let himself feel.


	10. Love Isn't Silly At All

**Woah, quick update. This chapter's been on my mind for a while, so it didn't take too long to write, hope you dig it. Reviews would be wonderful.**

Blaine threw down the nearly empty paint can and dropped his shirt from where it was covering everything up to his nose. He smiled at his car; it was slowly but surely getting there. All the dents and scratches were out, painted over, he just had to work on the inside. Maybe he'd actually finish his repairs on time.

He shut the garage door and walked back inside and checked the time. Oh, crap, Kurt would be over in less half an hour. He jumped into the shower and hurried through cleaning his hair but took more care scrubbing himself down, because he was very sweaty, and even though he'd be sure to be wrapped up in a few layers, he couldn't stand any kind of body odor on him.

He heard Ben and Rosie's voices from downstairs letting him know they were home from school too and he hurried. Kurt was bound to get there soon. He shut off the water and jumped out, wrapping a towel around his waist. He needed to shave, first and foremost. It was Valentine's Day tomorrow, and even though he was planning on taking Kurt out then, he still wanted tonight to be sweet and romantic for tonight, so he first needed to look nice. He set down his razor and brushed his teeth again before putting in his contacts and stepping out of the bathroom and down the hall to his bedroom. He honestly wasn't sure what was going to be their plans for the night, Kurt told him he had an idea but refused to tell Blaine what that idea _was_, so he was more clueless than usual. He wasn't sure, but it _was_ almost Valentine's, maybe they'd spend it at Kurt's house, and watch Moulin Rouge again, maybe they'd pop in Titanic and grind and make out for three hours, who knew? Either way though, Blaine had a pretty promising date, and he decided it was probably justified that he spend the better part of twenty minutes picking out his outfit.

**?!**

Kurt was kissing him hard, his tongue licking into Blaine's mouth greedily, the remainder of their meal long forgotten. Blaine was sitting practically in Kurt's lap, his legs around Kurt, holding his torso with his knees.

Blaine moaned into the kiss. "God, you taste like strawberries."

Kurt gripped his shirt and tugged him closer. Blaine could feel Kurt's half-hard on his ass, and Kurt tasted like strawberries and fudge, it was no wonder he already had a boner, because _god _Kurt was hot.

He wasn't sure how they'd gotten to that position. Kurt had picked him up and they went to the mall with Mike and Tina and goofed around with them for a while, shopping a little, getting Chinese food from the food court, and just having a nice afternoon together. Blaine had never actually been on a double date before, but it was fun. Well, it was fun with Mike and Tina, he wasn't sure how it'd be with other people, because Mike and Tina let them hold hands and kiss and flirt without staring at them, or pestering them over their relationship status. Anyway, it had been a lot of fun, and he sort of agreed to being best man at Mike's wedding at one point, but whatever, they were high on the excitement and the romance. When the two pairs parted at about seven, Kurt dragged Blaine into the parking lot and pushed down the backseats of his car, and pulled out a small picnic basket, with nothing in it but chocolate dipped strawberries.

Chocolate + strawberries + Kurt, was kind of a perfect combination, and they ended up making out sprawled across the carpeted floor for a while. But then, when things really started heated up, they sat up and Kurt was up against the wall but then Blaine was in his lap, and a few sharp turns later, there they were, hard on in the back of Kurt's car, their hands grasping at each other hungrily.

"You know what tomorrow is?" Blaine asked as Kurt kissed down his neck.

"Valentine's," he grunted, barely taking his lips off of Blaine's skin to say it.

"Care to spend it with me?" Blaine asked, his breath hitching as Kurt palmed once over the bulge in his jeans.

"Sorry, hon, I've got plans." Blaine pulled back abruptly and stared at Kurt with a hard look. "Yeah, I was thinking Mercedes and Rachel and I would go out together and celebrate being single and all that good stuff."

"_Kurt._"

Kurt looked Blaine directly in the eye and said, "I'm kidding. We can figure it out tomorrow." He attached his lips to Blaine's again, more forcefully.

"C'mon, babe, I'm paying. What do you want to do?" Blaine mumbled into his lips before moving in on the exposed skin of Kurt's neck and kissing it hungrily.

"I don't know," Kurt said, the bulge in his jeans growing larger as Blaine starting sucking on his neck. "Now would you please just shut up and let me grope you in the back of my car."

"So bossy," Blaine teased before kissing him again, gripping the collar of his button-up in his fists. Kurt's hands tugged the back of Blaine's polo, pulling it out of his khakis, and grabbing at Blaine's ass, at least what was there for him to grab, and not seated on his crotch. Blaine rocked himself against Kurt, getting a moan from the latter. Kurt grinded himself on Blaine, his hard cock sliding between Blaine's ass cheeks. It was another one of those moments where Kurt realized that if they were naked, they'd be having sex. Blaine grinded himself on Kurt, still sucking hard on his neck, leaving Kurt to moan and pull helplessly on his hair.

"Blaine, I'm getting close." He said, feeling his stomach fill up with that weird kind of warmth and fullness he always felt when he was going to come.

Blaine slid off of Kurt and sat between his legs, pushing them further apart. "I want to suck you off." He said. "Can I? God, it's been so long."

"Yes, yes, god yes," Kurt mumbled, unbuttoning his pants and pulling down the zipper.

Kurt lifted his ass off the floor so Blaine could shimmy down his jeans enough to good a good view of his cock, flushed, with the head shining from pre-come. Blaine went down on him, and Kurt's brain went haywire. There was just something about Blaine that made everything that's usually right to rethink itself. Even if he was jerking Kurt off, it was infinitely better than Kurt doing it on his own. He didn't warn Blaine when he came, because it wasn't quite as obvious as usual, but Blaine didn't voice any complaints.

Once Kurt was flaccid, Blaine pulled off of him and immediately attached his lips to Kurt's, kissing him hard and snaking his tongue into Kurt's mouth. Kurt had never understood the whole 'tasting yourself' thing before, but _god_. It wasn't the actual tasting himself part, but Blaine kissed him so eagerly, and so passionately, like there was nothing more important than letting Kurt taste himself.

Blaine came off of Kurt's mouth in a moan and said, "Okay, I'm gonna come." He unzipped his khakis, but before he stuck his hand inside, Kurt grabbed his leg.

"I want to – I want to jerk you off." He said, hoping his nervousness didn't show too badly.

Blaine's eyes widened. "Really?" Kurt nodded and crawled back over to Blaine as Blaine pulled his pants down halfway up his thighs.

"You just need to tell me if I'm doing anything wrong, okay?"

"Yeah, sur-" Blaine's sentence cut off when Kurt wrapped his hand around his cock. He tried to think about everything he did for himself, and what Blaine did to him, but everything was a lot different in the heat of the moment.

"Faster-" Blaine instructed. Kurt quickened his pace and Blaine moaned. "Oh, yeah, right – right there, babe."

Kurt flicked his wrist and Blaine gave an especially loud, wanton moan, practically panting in his breath. He spoke a line of unintelligible encouragement to Kurt, who could tell he was definitely very close. Kurt gripped a fistful of Blaine's curls with his free hand and tugged on them, and watched Blaine fall apart. His come spilled over his hand onto the carpeted floor, but all Kurt could think was, _that was my doing_. He made Blaine Anderson come in the back of his car on February 13th.

He slid his hand off of Blaine and he reached to the front of his car, into the glove box and grabbed tissues, cleaning up the mess he made of Blaine. Blaine pulled up his pants, zipping them up as he watched Kurt with a funny look, muttering something so lowly Kurt couldn't hear him.

"What?" Kurt asked briskly, throwing the napkins into the old takeout bag Finn left in the back.

Blaine smirked. "Baby penguin, my ass."

**?!**

"Mr. Shue, may I be excused? I don't feel well." Finn said from his seat.

"Me either," added Quinn.

Truly, they both looked terrible. Blaine didn't notice until then though, because he was rather busy paying attention to Kurt, and how well his shirt fit him, and the poorly concealed hickey low on his neck from last night.

"Let me guess," Santana started and Blaine stopped listening because Kurt licked his lips. It always distracted Blaine, but it especially did then, because he was quite familiar with that tongue, and maybe it was all the artificial love in the air, but he just really just wanted to kiss Kurt.

Kurt leaned close to Blaine. "Would you stop staring at me?" He teased lowly.

"Why would I do that?" Blaine asked back.

"It's distracting."

"So are you." Blaine retorted. Kurt shot him a look out of the corner of his eye, still watching the Finn/Quinn/Santana scene play out in front of him. "Maybe I just like looking at you."

Kurt finally faced Blaine, barely an inch between them. "You look at me plenty. You're distracting." He said again.

Blaine just smiled before he said, even quieter, "I uh- I wanted to dedicate this week's assignment to you."

Kurt's eyebrows went up. "Really."

Blaine nodded and Mr. Shue started talking again up front. "Who's up next?"

Blaine stood up and grabbed a stool on his way. He already gave the band their music, so they took it out as he grabbed an acoustic from its stand and sat on the stool. He was never nervous to perform, but he was then, because it was for Kurt, and so obviously for Kurt.

He nodded at the band to start and took a deep breath, catching Kurt's eye for just a moment before he looked down at the neck of his guitar and joined the band.  
**  
****So sing me a song I know all the words to****  
****And I'll sing along, could you be my savior?****  
****I've been out here too long****  
****And I've just been lookin' for somewhere to belong****  
****Barely holdin' on, so can you save me now?****  
**_  
_It wasn't until after the second verse that Blaine looked up at the glee club and saw their reactions; Tina was tearing up and kept looking at Mike, who was smiling at Blaine in a sort of approving way, Sam was still staring at the door like he had been since Quinn left, Santana was looking at Blaine with narrowed eyes and a trace of a smirk. He saved looking at Kurt for last. He was looking at Blaine with such a tender look, Blaine just wanted to stop playing and kiss him.  
**  
****My life in the rear view, I'm runnin' from Jesus****  
****Don't know where I'm goin' to****  
****I got nothin' to lose, I'm fightin' my demons****  
****Been lookin' for someone like you****  
****I've been lookin' for someone like you**_**  
**__  
_Blaine knew he was being obvious, staring directly at Kurt while he sang. Obviously he was the only person in the club it could be for, but when his eyes were glued on Kurt, he couldn't even pretend it was just a good song, or just because the assignment was love songs.  
**  
****When the stars explode and I'm all alone****  
****When they start to see the smoke****  
****When I've finally burned out****  
****I'll need someone to carry me home safe and sound**_  
_  
Blaine tore his eyes away from Kurt. God, Kurt shouldn't have had this strong an effect on him. Blaine didn't do love. It was practically the first rule. Why was he breaking the rules?  
**  
****My life in the rear view, I'm runnin' from Jesus****  
****Don't know where I'm goin' to****  
****But I got nothin' to lose, I'm fightin' my demons****  
****Been lookin' for someone like you****  
**  
Blaine strummed the last note of the song, before looking at the rest of glee club, many of them smiling at him, some smirking, Tina was sobbing on Mike again. Against what he meant to do, he let his eyes fall on Kurt.

Kurt was staring at him with those bright blue eyes that always made Blaine forget anything that was on his mind. He blindly placed the guitar back on its stand and walked back to his seat, his eyes still locked with Kurt's.

Blaine was brought back to reality when Santana said loudly, "You're allowed to kiss him, you know."

Some of the glee club laughed, and Blaine sat down behind Kurt, not next to him like before because he didn't trust himself to be near Kurt. He pretended not to notice how Kurt's ears turned pink.

"Haven't you messed up enough relationships for one day?" Blaine asked Santana, deciding not to reply on her comment.

Santana shrugged. "Screwing with Finn and Quinn is just revenge - sorry, Sam - but you and Hummel have been confusing us since you transferred."

"Seriously, are you two an item?" Mercedes asked. "Because I think you both need to come clean."

Blaine rolled his eyes and didn't respond. He and Kurt weren't an item, they were just friends who hooked up whenever they were alone together. He wasn't in love with Kurt, it was just that Kurt made him feel like he was actually worth a damn, which he hadn't felt since before his mom got sick. He didn't want to be Kurt's boyfriend, he just wanted to continue spending everyday at Kurt's house, and kissing him just because he could, and bringing Kurt to parties, and having dinner with Kurt and his parents. He didn't want to be exclusive, he just didn't want Kurt dating another guy. Or kissing, or flirting with, or texting, or talking to other guys. They weren't dating, they just kissed, and held hands, and sang love songs together. But they weren't an item. He was pretty sure they weren't an item.

Blaine was glad Finn wasn't there. He probably would've mentioned the times he walked in on the two of them making out on Kurt's bed, or that time in the locker room when Blaine said he liked Kurt, or any of the incriminating evidence he'd unintentionally gathered up until that moment.

Mr. Shue cut off the not-so-subtle interrogation, but Santana inched her chair closer to Blaine's. She leaned close to his face and whispered to him. "Why won't you just admit you're hot for Hummel, and put us all out of our misery? Hell, maybe you'd even get laid."

Blaine just rolled his eyes. Santana lost the teasing tone in her voice but said just as lowly, "But seriously, Anderson," Blaine turned to face her completely, and could see the gears in her head spinning madly in an attempt to read him. "Why aren't you guys just _together_ already? We saw you hook up at that lame party, Finn told us about what you said the day he apologized for being a tool, not to mention Kurt's blush tells us your relationship is not completely platonic."

Blaine turned away from her, because he couldn't think of a response. What was he supposed to say to that? None of it was defendable, none of it was wrong. He looked at Kurt, only able to see the back of his head, but he still didn't want to look away.

"I just don't think that's what he wants. To be a real couple, that is."

Santana snorted. "Yeah, he's _definitely _the one holding back." She said sarcastically.

Was Blaine holding back? They'd never really talked about actually being a couple. Sure, they did things that couples do, but not with the labels, or the uncomfortable meeting the parents (though they had their own version of that), and _the talk_. Maybe he was holding back, but more than he wanted to be a fully fledged couple with Kurt, he wanted to be happy, and keep Kurt happy, and their gray area mix of almost togetherness was making them both very happy. But if they ever talked about it, or if it was an ultimatum for them, hell yeah they were a couple.

**?!**

After a glee club that was mostly exchanging shy glances with Kurt, Blaine was brought back to the Hudmel household, and before Kurt led him up to his bedroom, Burt stopped them from his spot in the kitchen. "Hey, Blaine," he greeted him. "Nice to see you again."

"Yeah, of course," he returned. "How's the old ticker doing?"

He shrugged, turning over an omelet. "Good, doc said the diet Kurt put me on is doing well. How's your aunt?"

"Great," he commented idly, itching to be alone with Kurt. He loved talking to Burt and everything, but it was Valentine's Day, Kurt was looking especially adorable…

"Dad, we're just going to go upstairs, okay?" Kurt said, wrapping his hand around Blaine's bicep, ready to bolt upstairs and drag him along.

"With the door open?"

"Yeah, dad, with the door open. Nothing to worry about." Kurt responded, rolling his eyes to the top of his head.

"Nothing to worry about," he repeated, "'Cause you're just friends, right?" his voice sounded like he was daring him to say something contrary, and maybe he was, but Blaine wasn't really sure why he would. Maybe he was just tired of not knowing whether he could call Blaine Kurt's boyfriend, opposed to that gay kid his son makes out with.

Kurt didn't seem to care very much about what his dad was saying, and he said, "Yeah, dad, just friends," before pulling Blaine up the stairs and to his room.

"What're you doing?" he asked as Kurt started fiddling with his music player.

Kurt turned to him and said, "You think you're the only one with a glee club assignment?"

Blaine grew a grin as Kurt climbed onto the bed and took his hand. The music started and Blaine recognized the song, and felt his chest tighten as Kurt started singing, _Elevator buttons and morning air._

It was weirdly, almost perfectly fitting for them. The lyrics made sense to the point where it was almost weird, but leave it to Kurt to find a song that was perfect for their Valentine's Day together.

Kurt moved closer to Blaine, brushing Blaine's curls behind his ear and singing to him. Blaine was really glad Kurt didn't sing this in glee club, because that moment was so perfect, and so intimate, he felt like he was dreaming.

_And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoo will be ignored_

'_Cause my heart is yours_

Blaine felt his face warm up, his stomach tightened too. He knew since it was in fact a love song, it would be a little cheesy and maybe not exactly what Kurt was thinking, but he couldn't help but swoon over those words in particular. He reached to his neck and pulled out his necklace and held it to his chest, his face still red as Kurt sang the last chorus.

_Don't you worry your pretty little mind_

_People throw rocks at things that shine_

_But they can't take what's ours_

_The stakes are high, the water's rough_

_But this love is ours_

Blaine cupped Kurt's face as soon as he finished singing, and pulled him in for a gentle kiss. "That was beautiful." he murmured, kissing him again. Kurt deepened the kiss and brushed his fingers through his curls.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Kurt breathed before pressing their lips together again.

"And to you," Blaine returned. "But your song was so perfect, I feel like I should've gotten you something else."

"You don't have to get me anything else."

"No, I should get you flowers or something," Blaine insisted. "You've already given me the greatest gift ever, I need to start making up for it."

"I don't think Taylor Swift is the greatest gift ever." Kurt said, smiling as he combed back Blaine's hair.

"Not the song, silly," Blaine murmured in his ear. "You."

Kurt's cheeks warmed up and his fingers toyed with Blaine's locket, twisting it between his first two fingers. "Well it's like the song said," he mumbled. "My heart is yours. You just have to take care of it."

Kurt looked up at Blaine again when he took his hand, holding his over Kurt's and the necklace. "It would be an honor." He said gently before pressing his lips to Kurt's again.

Before either of the boys were finished, Finn walked into the room without knocking. He looked zombie-like with his eyes glossed over, his shoulders slumped, his mouth hanging open as Kurt and Blaine pulled away from each other.

"Finn, you're not supposed to get out of bed." Kurt said, taking in his stepbrother.

Finn didn't regard what he said. "Are you guys singing?"

"I was," Kurt corrected.

Finn looked between them slowly and nodded groggily. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, staggering over to the bed to give it to them. "I got reservations at a fancy restaurant, but…" Finn trailed off, gesturing to himself. "If you want 'em."

Kurt picked up the printout of directions and said, "Thank you, Finn, that's very nice of you."

Finn smiled lazily and patted Blaine on the shoulder before he left, not closing the door behind him and going back to bed.

"You interested in some dinner?" Kurt asked, holding up the paper.

"Always." Blaine said with a grin.

Kurt pulled him off the bed and they went downstairs, Kurt still tugging Blaine's hand along. Carole and Burt were sitting in the kitchen.

Kurt let go of Blaine's hand, but he was pretty sure Carole noticed, judging by the twinkling in her eyes. "We're going to dinner." He informed them.

Burt raised his eyebrows. "On Valentine's day?"

Kurt blushed and Carole swatted at Burt, who shrugged innocently. "Okay, okay. Just remember it's a school night, kid. Curfew's at ten."

Kurt tried unsuccessfully to not roll his eyes. "Kurt," his dad said in a warning voice. "I certainly hope you won't be getting up to anything that'll need you to be out later than ten. After all, you are _just friends_, right?" he asked, his voice baiting them again.

Kurt blushed darker and grabbed his coat and pulled it on as Blaine did his own. "Fine. We'll be back by ten."

He didn't care about grabbing Blaine's hand and pulling him out the door. His dad just made implications about them doing _things_, he was going to hold Blaine's hand in front of his dad.

Kurt stopped at his car and Blaine froze. Kurt just shot him a hard look. "It's Valentine's Day, it's cold, and my hair looks perfect, I'm not putting a helmet on. We're taking my car."

Blaine put up his hands defensively and crossed the front and climbed into the passenger seat. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

Kurt sighed. "Don't call me that." He snapped quietly.

Blaine looked crushed for the millisecond he hadn't composed himself for. "Why? You've never cared before."

"Maybe because you never say it sincerely. You always say it like I'm ball-and-chaining you."

Kurt jammed the keys into the ignition and started the car, but Blaine put his hands over Kurt's. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I made it seem like that, I never meant to."

Kurt just nodded. He knew if he opened his mouth it'd be some bitchy comeback, and Blaine didn't deserve it. He needed to stop taking his frustrations out on him.

"Because I mean it." Blaine added softly.

Kurt turned to him and let his head fall back against the chair's headrest. "No," he sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not even mad at you."

"I know," Blaine assured him. "But I will stop, if it bothers you-"

"No. No, I-" he laced his fingers with Blaine's across the console. "I love it when you call me sweetheart." He said, glancing up at the house. "It was just - my dad's comments pissed me off-"

"I know," Blaine said, pressing his lips to Kurt's knuckles. "Don't worry about it. Your dad's not here anymore. It's just you and me, and it's Valentine's Day. Let's enjoy it."

Kurt smiled and pulled out of the driveway, still holding Blaine's hand. They were quiet for a while, listening to the love songs on the radio, until Blaine said, "He kind of had a point though."

Kurt turned to him. "What?"

"Your dad. We are going out together on Valentine's." he said snidely, smirking at Kurt. "Quite a couple-y thing to do. Arguably the _most_ couple-y thing to do."

Kurt snorted. "Oh, he's seen us doing more couple-y things."

Blaine nodded. "That's true. But you've got to admit this is pretty high up on that list."

Kurt hummed in agreement. When he slowed to a stop for a yellow light he asked lightly, "So are we?"

Blaine seemed to have tuned out, and he turned to Kurt with a dazed expression. "Are we what?"

Kurt hesitated. "A… couple."

He couldn't bear to look at Blaine when he didn't immediately respond. He didn't even turn when Blaine started in his sugary voice, "Well, I don't take just anyone out on Valentine's."

Kurt's cheeks went pink and Blaine leaned over the aisle and pressed his lips onto his cheek with a loud smack. He let his lips linger on Kurt's skin until he whispered in his ear, "If you want to be, we are most definitely a couple."

Kurt smiled to himself. "I want to be." He mumbled, flushing.

"Good. I do too." Blaine murmured, kissing his pink cheek again softly.

"So do you want to give me directions to our restaurant tonight?"

"Sure, but can we stop by my place first? So I can change into something less Breadstix, and more Casa Lu Al, if you know what I mean." Blaine said.

Kurt burst out laughing. "You're so pretentious."

Blaine smacked him with the papers Finn gave them. "It's the name of the restaurant were going to."

Kurt laughed again. "Okay, we can stop by on the way." He said. "You can dress up and everything."

Blaine straightened up and turned to him with excitement in his eyes. "Yes! I haven't dressed up in so long!" He patted Kurt's leg several times quickly, looking like a six year old who was promised Disney world. "Should I gel my hair down? I used to do that everyday!"

"You are such a sweetheart!" Kurt exclaimed with a grin. Blaine blushed. "You don't have to gel your hair down, you know how much I love your curls."

Blaine nodded excitedly and when they pulled into his driveway, jumped out of the car to get changed. Kurt didn't get out with him, just relaxing for a few minutes before Blaine came bounding out the door again in a nice, dark blue suit with a bow tie around his neck and his coat on his arm.

He hopped back into the passenger seat and grinned at Kurt, who refrained from letting Blaine know how fucking adorable he looked, and drove them over to the restaurant. It wasn't all that far from Blaine's house, and just from looking at the exterior, he could see it was a very nice place.

They went inside and Kurt noticed almost immediately that they were the only couple there that was one, same sex, and two, under the age of forty. They were greeted and Kurt gave them Finn's reservation name, and they were brought to a two person table in the middle of the restaurant. After a few uncomfortably quiet moments, a waiter came over to take their orders, which they just got waters so it only took a second. Kurt really tried to just read the menu and order something, but it was really hard to focus on foods he didn't know how to pronounce when out of his peripheral he could always see another party staring at them.

They got their waters and looked at their menus some more, and every time Kurt peeked around, he saw a new table staring at them, and he really, really wished they were anywhere else.

Blaine looked around the restaurant before looking back at Kurt. "High ceilings." He commented, trying to sounds casual.

Kurt glanced up. "Very. Tasteful paintings too."

Blaine nodded for a really long moment as Kurt sipped his water. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Kurt nearly spit out his mouthful in is haste to reply. "God, yes."

Blaine laughed and stood up, pulling on his suit jacket as their waiter came back over to take their orders. Blaine stuffed a five in his hand. "Sorry, we have to go." He said before grabbing Kurt's hand and pulling him out of the restaurant.

Kurt giggled as they hit the pavement and Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist.

"Sorry that place was such a bust." Blaine grumbled.

"It wasn't. Just wasn't the right atmosphere for tonight." Kurt said.

"You're right," he returned. "Too many old white people staring at us."

Kurt laughed and wrapped his arms around Blaine. "So what now? We could go out to another too expensive place, or we could cook something back at my place."

Blaine hesitated before saying, "Or we could go to Breadstix."

Kurt's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah? Even though all of our friends will be there too?"

Blaine nodded and held Kurt tighter. "Unless you don't want to."

"No, let's go to Breadstix. It's way cheaper anyways."

"That's the spirit!" Blaine said, letting him go to latch onto his hand. He led Kurt over to his car and jumped into the passenger side.

Kurt drove to the restaurant pretty quickly, and Blaine glanced down at his outfit once they were in the parking lot. "I'm a little overdressed for Breadstix."

Kurt just got out of the car and threaded their fingers together. "That's okay; you look good in a suit."

Blaine's smile was proud as they walked in and he squeezed Kurt's hand as they stepped inside the place, which was nearly filled, and decorated with tacky hearts and cupids on the walls and hanging from the ceiling.

He could see several tables were taken up by their friends, all on dates or, like Mercedes and Rachel, being single together. And of course, there was Sam, sitting by himself, looking horribly confused. They got a table and was greeted by their usual waitress, Sandy, who took their drinks order with a sweet little smile. _  
_  
After they ordered their drinks and the waitress walked away, Blaine took Kurt's hand over the table. Kurt locked their ankles together. They weren't hiding their affection by any means, but surprisingly, none of their friends bothered them.

Kurt peeked around and saw Puck and Lauren sitting together and smiling, Mike and Tina being their usual selves, Rachel and Mercedes chatting idly, Santana looking at Brittany and Artie a few seconds too long.

"I'm glad we came here." Kurt commented, twisting their fingers together.

Blaine grinned. "Me too." He said. "I'm really glad you came out with me tonight."

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, his cheeks pink. "I'm glad too. We've been to a lot of interesting places."

"Mhm, the company hasn't been too bad either." Blaine murmured.

He pressed a kiss on Kurt's knuckles and smiled. Blaine was being really pleasant, and sweet, and adorable, and he was actually letting someone other than Kurt see it. So Kurt thought he earned it, when he pressed into the table to press his lips to Blaine's over their placemats.

It was short, because even though it was just Breadstix, it was still Ohio. But Blaine didn't seem to mind; he just grinned wider and held onto Kurt's hand in both of his. He glanced down at their clasped hands before looking up at Kurt again and saying, "I am crazy about you."

Kurt ducked his head, tightening his hold on Blaine's hand but trying to hide his grin. He nodded a little and Blaine brushed his thumb over Kurt's smooth skin. He and Blaine officially became a couple, were themselves in public, Blaine's _crazy _about him… it was a pretty amazing Valentine's Day. 

**?!**

Friday had arrived, Kurt was feeling pretty romanced out. The week was crazy, and filled with kisses, and love, and romance, he felt dizzy. He honestly just wanted to stay home, but his dad wouldn't let him skip school without a fight, and it was the last day in glee club to sing love songs, he may as well be there. He wasn't planning on singing, and almost everyone had gone already, but too often their assignments were boring as shit, and this wasn't, he didn't want to miss it. After school and glee club, Kurt invited Blaine back to his house, as Burt had asked him to invite him to Friday night dinner when he'd gotten home from Breadstix the night before, but Blaine just told him he'd meet him at dinner, saying he had some things to do after school.

So he sat on the couch and did their homework as Burt and Carole worked on dinner in the kitchen, and a very sick Finn was laying facedown on the couch near him. It was nearly six o'clock when Carole gave them a fifteen minute warning and sat down in the living room with his dad, and Kurt texted Blaine, wondering what on earth he was doing that was making him _still_ not there. But not a minute after he sent the text, the front doorbell rang.

He opened the door and froze. It was Blaine, but he was nice jeans, a sweater vest and a blazer, and a cute little red and black hat, juggling about a hundred things in his arms. "Hi," he breathed, looking at Kurt, who felt a little underdressed, which was very nearly a first.

"So I know you've never been with someone on Valentine's, so I wanted to make it really special for your first time, and I was trying to think of what to give you, and I decided for your true initiation into the clichés of romantic holidays, I'd give you all of them." He explained, grinning toothily, Kurt started to notice some of the things in his arm. "First, flowers,"

Kurt accepted the red and pink and yellow assortment, his cheeks going as pink as the roses. It wasn't a huge bouquet, but it was still more than enough. "Next, chocolates," he handed him a miniature heart shaped Russell Stover box, "And of course, balloons." Next, he handed him two identical heart shaped balloons.

Kurt stared at him in wonder, his eyes lit up, Blaine was just grinning, excited to be giving Kurt all of his first clichés. He then gave him a bear, probably as large as Kurt's torso light brown and wearing one of Blaine's t-shirts. "I gave him something of mine to wear, 'cause I know how much you love the way I smell." He explained, Kurt blushed a little deeper knowing Blaine knew that. "And of course, here's your cliché coupon book, with nonrefundable treats such as kisses, massages, and cookies whenever your pretty little heart desires." He grinned again and handed Kurt a small rectangular box that he opened for him, given that Kurt's arms were pretty busy. "This is a mixtape I made for you, CD version though, of all of our songs, and songs that make me think of you. Finally, sir, your card."

Kurt was overwhelmed. Blaine hadn't even walked in the door, he was just standing outside it, giving Kurt Valentine's gifts like this would be his last Valentine's ever, and he gave him the _cutest_ gifts in the _world_. Before he looked down at the card, he leaned forward, dropping the flowers on the counter beside the door and leaning forward, kissing him soundly on the lips, the bear pressed between them.

"I feel like I should've gotten you something else," he murmured.

Blaine just pressed their lips together again. "I already told you, you've given me the best gift in the universe." Kurt just smiled and kissed him one more time before stepping back and letting him inside.

"Help me bring this stuff upstairs?" he asked, glancing at his family, who were looking over curiously. Blaine nodded and grabbed the balloons and CD, still holding the card. Kurt nudged his sort of open door and walked inside, dropping his gifts on his bed, letting Blaine do the same before kissing him, more properly than when a stuffed bear was between them.

Blaine pulled back quickly though and held out the card. "You need to open your last gift. Kurt took a breath, looking at the homemade card, pink with a purple heart and nothing else on the cover. "I swear, if this is something heartfelt and beautiful, I'm going to break."

Blaine just laughed under his breath, watching Kurt as he opened it. It wasn't big and overdone, it wasn't flashy or anything, it just said in big, neat letters, "I HEART YOU."

"'I heart you?'" he read, glancing up at Blaine, whose cheeks were pink.

He nodded. "I do. I heart you."

Kurt didn't need to use urban dictionary to have an idea of what that meant. He blushed, flicking his eye to the floor coyly. "I heart you too." he responded lightly, surprising himself a little.

Yeah. Maybe he was a little bit in love with Blaine. **  
**


	11. Whistle, I'll Be There

**So as it turns out, I didn't publish my chapter during the Sue Sylvester Shuffle… oops. Almost everything was canon, as far as everyone else goes, you'll see in this chapter what happened with K&B. Really sorry about that, guys, I had written like half of it but I guess the universe didn't approve. Reviews would be wonderful. Btw, Comeback has two chapters set during that week, so prepare yourself for next chapter to be coming shortly.**

"You busy this weekend?" Blaine asked, approaching Kurt that morning.

"I don't think so, why?" He asked, shutting his locker.

Blaine grinned. "Let's go to the city. Columbus. On Saturday."

Kurt looked up in surprise. "What?"

"John will be finishing a conference there, and Mary thought about bringing me and the kids and spending the day. I'd love it if you came with me." he explained, smiling sweetly.

"Um," Kurt laughed. "I can ask my dad."

"Wonderful, text me after you ask, we can pick you up around ten." Blaine said. "Anyway, I've got a dentist appointment, so I'll see you at glee club."

"Okay, see you then." He agreed. Blaine leaned forward and pecked his lips as he walked away, pulling his coat on.

After that, Kurt's day got… weird. First, he found Sam in the boy's bathroom combing his hair like Justin Bieber and listening to him go off about his new one-man band, _The Justin Bieber Experience_, and then go on about how he thinks Quinn will warm up to it, and subsequently warm up to him. Not that Sam used a word like "subsequently" of course. And Coach Sylvester verbally abused him in the hallway for "taking up too much space," and threw his textbook down the hall.

He didn't think much of it until for most of the afternoon. He sat down in the back in glee club, and couldn't keep the grin off his face when Blaine walked in. He and Blaine had gotten a lot closer since Valentine's Day. Part of it was that they couldn't seem to be able to be alone together without it ending in Blaine blowing him, or Kurt jerking him off, or both. The other part was that Kurt was sure more than ever that yeah, he was falling in love with Blaine. It was so easy, and Blaine was reciprocating everything Kurt threw at him, not to mention almost every relationship around them seemed to be in shambles; Quinn and Finn were fooling around behind Sam's back, Rachel was still pining hopelessly after Finn, Santana and Brittany were hooking up behind Artie's back, it seemed like only Mike and Tina were not falling apart. And them, which was saying something, because they weren't even publicly a couple. It might've been a little obvious sometimes that they were _something_, but that's what they were: a something.

But after February 14th, they were more affectionate. They held hands even when they knew people could see them, Blaine had started kissing him between classes, and in the hallways, not hidden in the bathrooms. Kurt loved it. He felt like he was still flying high off of Valentine's, and everything that went down that week, because it really was a lot.

Blaine walked over to him in the back, shrugging off his bag and kissing Kurt on the cheek, rubbing his shoulder in a sort of greeting. Blaine sort of had a thing for Kurt's shoulders. "Hello, beautiful." He murmured close to Kurt's face.

Kurt's cheeks went pink. "Hello to you too." he greeted him.

They turned to each other, neither of them saying anything, just reading into each other's eyes, both of them blushing a little for no reason at all. They were in their own world, they didn't realize the rest of the glee club file in, including Beiber-Sam, and Coach Sylvester? He started tuning in after a spiel about why Coach Sue is there, but thankfully starting listening when they started talking about Regionals.

"This year's theme: Anthem. Now who can tell me what an anthem is?" Mr. Schue was saying.

Rachel's hand shot up but Brittany answered, "The bottom on an ant's pants."

"Close… so close."

When Sam stood up a few moments later to perform, everyone seemed to simultaneously notice his Bieber thing, he peeked out of the corner of his eye and saw Blaine grimacing. He smirked and scooted his chair closer to Blaine's, laying on his shoulder as Sam started on his acoustic guitar.

**Oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa**

Blaine shot a doubtful look at Kurt, who just squeezed his thigh reassuringly.

**You know you love me, I know you care**

**Just shout whenever, and I'll be there**

**You are my love, you are my heart**

**And we will never ever ever be apart**

Sam lost the guitar and started singing to Quinn, getting closer to her and dancing goofily. It was cute, really, it was. Quinn still didn't seem too thrilled about the attention, but she had started smiling at least.

**Are we an item? Girl, quit playing**

**We're just friends, what are you saying?**

**Say there's another and look right in my eyes**

**My first love broke my heart for the first time**

**And I was like**

**Baby, baby, baby oooh**

**Like baby, baby, baby nooo**

**Like baby, baby, baby oooh**

**I thought you'd always be mine **

Despite all the crap he was given before, most people seemed to be enjoying Sam's performance. Well, the girls, that is. And surprisingly, Blaine. He'd wrapped his arm around Kurt, who sat up to watch Sam's ridiculous dancing, and was pressing kisses onto his cheek and sang along, under his breath to the silly lyrics. Kurt laughed and played along, dancing along with Santana beside him, letting Blaine openly flirt with him as Sam kept singing.

Sam seemed to be enjoying himself, Quinn too was looking pleased. Blaine danced in his chair next to him, snaking his hand into Kurt's and grinning at him. He loved how much Blaine fit in with the New Directions. He was a little nervous how it would go down, because while the only person Blaine had ever had a problem with was Finn, and that was resolved, it was still really different having him at lunch with the glee club, and actually having him perform with the glee club.

He looked around, and Finn squinted at him and Blaine in confusion, flitting around to Brittany, who was waving her leg-warmer-wrapped-arms enthusiastically to the beat. Many of the other guys looked confused too, but Mike was starting to dance a little.

**I'm gone**

Sam finished the song, getting hoots and hollers from the girls (plus Blaine), and he settled back into his seat for Mr. Schue to continue his lesson. He'd never been into Justin Bieber, at all really, but… Blaine would look adorable with bangs. Just a thought.

**?!**

Blaine had gym/weight room fourth block with most of his guy friends, which meant they usually just hung out, maybe lifted some weights. Of course, before they were friends, Blaine just boxed by himself, but apparently friendship involves legitimate social interaction, so he usually elected to spot someone, or lift with them and talk about whatever. Part of the reason he tried so hard to befriend them, was because Kurt was his only friend, and that probably wasn't healthy, but also because they _liked _Blaine. He didn't really know why, since he was kind of an asshole to them in the beginning, but they made an effort to be friends, so he did too.

He was spotting Finn that afternoon, waiting for the day to just be over, because he was exhausted, and Kurt was going to be over that afternoon, so he had been looking forward to that all day. Valentine's Day had been magical for them, and it was incredibly romantic and sweet and hot, and he'd been a little worried it'd all die out after. Mike told him about the Angry Birds situation with Tina, and he half expected Kurt to start choosing his phone over making out with him, but he didn't; Kurt seemed just as, if not even more, crazy about him than he did at Valentine's. Part of his thinking was that Valentine's is Valentine's, everyone's extra romantic and cutesy, but now that everything was back to normal and Blaine was still being cutesy, it probably felt more real for him.

It felt more real for Blaine too. He and Kurt had been sort of together for a few months by then, and Kurt hadn't lost interest, or found someone better. It felt pretty good knowing he was someone's first choice for once. Especially that he was _Kurt's_ first choice… that was…wow. Kurt was so out of Blaine's league it was insane that they were even friends. Of course, Kurt didn't see it, but Blaine knew Kurt could do much better than him if he wanted to.

"Dude!" Blaine hastened to help get the weights off of Finn. He might've sort of dozed off on his spotting duties thinking about his boyfriend. Yeah, when he thought 'Kurt', he also thought 'boyfriend', so sue him. It wasn't like it was that far off, he and Kurt were dating, and they'd decided that they were a couple, but couple and boyfriends were two different steps he wasn't entirely sure Kurt was ready for. But _god_, he wanted it so bad.

Finn had started walking away from him so he followed, noticing Puck, Artie, and Mike surrounding Sam. He heard Mike saying something like, "We need the sugary-sweet jolt of the Biebs to get us some action again." Ah, Angry Birds.

"Why do you want in, Puckerman?" Sam asked.

"I'm at the end of my Lauren Zizes rope," he explained, "I'll do anything to get into those enormous pants."

Finn got to them first, and looked at them and asked, "Uhh,… what's going on?"

Artie answered first. "We're joining the Justin Bieber Experience. If Sam's cool with it."

"And if not," Puck picked up, "We're starting out own band."

"Bieber Fever." Mike finished, his eyes wide with excitement.

Blaine ducked his head to hide his chortle. It was so stupid, and so clever, he was sort of impressed. At least they paid enough attention to know (sort of), what their women want.

"You guys do realize that Justin Bieber suck, right?" Finn asked snidely.

Sam seemed to puff up his chest a little. "Quinn seemed to be pretty into it when I was singing in glee club," he pointed out, his voice filled with bravado.

"Right, well, I'm going to spend my time working on songs that aren't geared towards twelve year olds." He remarked.

"Good. Cause then you won't have any time to pick up any other guy's girlfriends." Blaine shared a wide eyed look with Mike. Innocent, naïve, little Sam was finally catching on. Blaine had realized, almost immediately after the championship football game that something was up with Quinn and Finn. Especially after the mono fiasco at Valentine's, it was a surprise Sam's played dumb for so long. He didn't participate in the game itself, because either he got sick and gave it to Kurt, or Kurt got sick and gave it to him, but neither of them was fit to play football. They barely were able to take part in the halftime show. But even in his dreary head cold state, he was able to tell something was fishy between Finn and Quinn.

"Hey, back off, man." Finn said defensively. "I didn't kiss your girlfriend. She saved my life." He said before walking off.

Blaine didn't understand why they could consider each other friends when they blatantly lied to each other's faces. It was yet another New Directions dynamic he didn't understand.

Mike called Sam's attention back to the matter of Justin Bieber. "So what do you say? Are we in?"

Sam was quiet for a long moment. "Fine." He answered, getting grins from the guys. "But we need to figure out something to do with Puckerman's hair."

That wiped the grin off of his face pretty quickly. He turned to Blaine. "Are you in?"

Blaine looked at him dubiously, shaking his head. "I'm all set, man."

"Dude, you should do it!" Puck said, clapping him on the back. "Get you out of your post-Valentine's dry spell."

Blaine snorted, pushing his hand away. "I'm not in a dry spell, Puck."

"Not _yet_," Artie said, "it's already happened to all of us. It's as old as the holiday itself; after Valentine's Day, the bar is set too high, and it's like a candy overdose, they _crash_."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm fine."

"Fine, but don't come crawling back to the Experience once your boyfriend gets bored." He warned, pointing at him.

"Okay, you're using the word '_boyfriend_' very liberally." He chastened. The guys just rolled their eyes. His phone starting going off and he pulled it out, smiling at a message from Kurt and said, "I'll see you guys later. Good luck with… the Experience." He said, nodding to them and leaving.

**?!**_**  
**_  
Blaine was really surprised that the Justin Bieber thing wasn't as much of a disaster as everyone predicted it would be. The Justin Bieber Experience put on a performance of _Somebody to Love_, and it was fun. He didn't regret not participating, but he and Kurt enjoyed watching the guys goof around with lighting and chalk, and the girls fangirling just off the lip of the stage. There was something about their friends singing semi-decent love songs that made them feel that much crazier for the other. He walked over to Kurt, standing at his locker and propped himself up beside him. He looked at Kurt's hair and said with a smirk, "Darn, no Bieber cut for you?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Right, like I could succumb to the Bieber-mania."

Blaine laughed. "Still, I think you'd look good with the bangs." He said, twisting a lock of Kurt's hair onto his finger. Kurt swatted his hand away and swept his hair up.

"So, Kurt, I was thinking-"

Then, Karofsky came. He shoved Kurt against the locker and kept walking with Azimio. Blaine got off the locker and walked a foot closer to them. "What the hell was that?" he called at them, drawing the attention of people nearby.

Karofsky and Azimio turned around and Kurt grabbed Blaine's arm and muttered, "Stop it, Blaine, it's not worth it."

Blaine rolled his eyes and tore his arm from Kurt's grasp. "My ass it's not worth it." he retorted and Karofsky was right up to him.

"What do you want, Anderson?" he asked. "You're standing up for princess Hummel?" Azimio said, stepping closer to Blaine.

"Fuck off, Adams, this isn't about you." Blaine retorted, and shoved Azimio's shoulders back.

Karofsky took another step towards him. "You wanna fight, butt boy?"

That name pushed Blaine over the edge and he stepped forward and shoved Karofsky's shoulders back. "I'd fucking _love _to, you know I never paid you back for that shower. But unless you want me to make you eat your own balls, you should back _off._" he suggested sharply.

Karofsky shoved Blaine back. "Why don't you just let me deal with that _fag_, and mind your own business." he responded.

"_That_ _fag_," Blaine said, his voice raised. "Has a _name_, asshole." He leaned his head closer and dropped his voice so only Karofsky could hear him. "Or maybe you don't remember, like how you don't remember you tried to _kiss _him."

And then Karofsky jumped on Blaine. Kurt let out a yell as he punched Blaine across the face. Blaine jutted him in the gut, and hit again in the face. Blaine flipped them over and hit him hard across the jaw. He actually maintained dominance for most of the fight, despite being about a hundred pounds and several inches smaller than Karofsky.

A group formed around them, and a circle of at least thirty students watched, some of them cheered, for Blaine or Karofsky, some of them recorded it, some of them just gasped and yelled.

It was really obvious to everyone at that moment how serious a boxer Blaine was, and Karofsky definitely seemed surprised. But before it got too bad, Azimio intervened. He grabbed Blaine's arms and lifted him into his own, and Karofsky stood up and wiped the blood dripping from his mouth.

Blaine kicked back at Azimio, but before another fight got started, Karofsky nailed in him in the stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him, and taking his ability to move. Kurt tried to run into the mix but Santana grabbed his arm and tugged him back.

Karofsky swung back again and hit Blaine hard in the stomach as Azimio held him. Santana and Brittany were forcefully holding Kurt back from running into the fight. The watching crowd _ooh_-ed appreciatively when Karofsky punched Blaine again, as he struggled futilely in Azimio's arms.

As strong as Blaine was, no one would be able to take multiple hits in the gut from someone as large as Karofsky, and he was starting to wonder if he had a broken rib or something, since Karofsky had hit him at least three or four times.

As Karofsky pulled back for another hit, someone grabbed his fist. It was Puck. He bent his arm back at an unpleasant angle, and hit him hard across the face. Azimio watched as Puck tackled Karofsky, and dropped Blaine, and went to grab Puck. Blaine didn't have time to catch himself, and instead just hit the ground and stayed there, holding his middle.

That's when Bieste came over. "What the hell is going on here?!" she yelled. Finn and Sam pulled Puck away, and Mike and Shane held Karofsky and Azimio back. Santana and Brittany dragged the frantic Kurt away, and Blaine stayed laying on the ground, curled in on himself.

Bieste turned to Puck "What the hell are you doing? You'll be sent back to juvie!"

"They weren't fighting fair coach! They would've killed him!" Puck protested, gesturing wildly.

"All of you get going!" Bieste shouted to the onlookers, who quickly started shuffling away. The only people who stayed were the four fighters.

"Get going! If I ever see this again, I'll suspend all four of you!" she shouted, red in the face. Karofsky and Azimio glared at Blaine and Puck before walking away in the opposite direction. Bieste followed them, and Puck held out his hand to Blaine.

Blaine grabbed his hand and stood up to turn around and immediately puke into the nearest trash can. Puck kept his distance until Blaine was done, his arms crossed, looking up and down the hall.

Blaine turned away from the can and muttered, "Assholes."

"You okay?" Puck asked, looking at Blaine uncertainly.

"Oh, just some internal bleeding, nothing too bad." Blaine said idly. He lifted up his shirt and peered at himself. "Shit, it's bruising already."

Puck prodded one of the darkening spots on Blaine's stomach and ribs. Blaine retracted and smacked his hand away. "Don't touch it, dipshit."

Puck put up his hands defensively. He smacked Blaine's arm and said, "Remind me to never get in a fight with you." he said.

Blaine smirked and checked the time. "Want to head to glee?" he asked.

Puck nodded and Blaine grabbed his bag off the ground and the pair started off towards the choir room in silence. Blaine had a sort of grimace on his face the whole walk to the choir room, and Puck noticed. "Seriously dude, are you okay?"

Blaine nodded, his mouth in a tight line, and they stepped into the choir room.

All the conversation ceased immediately and everyone turned towards the pair of them. That was the first time Blaine notice his lip was bleeding.

Then, everyone swarmed them. There were shouts of "What the hell were you thinking?!" and "What's wrong with you?!"

Someone- Blaine thought Finn- slapped Puck and was going on about juvie, and Blaine didn't pay attention to much until someone hugged him. He was confused for a moment before he realized it was Kurt, and hugged him back.

The hug wasn't short, but as soon as Kurt pulled back, he smacked Blaine on the shoulder. It wasn't especially hard, but it took Blaine by surprise. A couple people laughed and Kurt said breathlessly, "You're such an _idiot_."

Blaine laughed, but cringed at how much it hurt his ribs, his arms still around Kurt's waist. "You love me," he accused of Kurt, bending his face close to his to say it softly.

Kurt rolled his eyes and Quinn asked from behind him, "Blaine, are you okay?"

Blaine nodded unconvincingly and Tina said, "We all saw the video. I'm surprised you're even standing."

Puck snorted. "Well don't worry about him blowing chunks; he already has."

Blaine rolled his eyes and Sam asked, "Can I see your stomach? He hit you like a hundred times."

Blaine smirked at Sam before letting go of Kurt and lifting his shirt to show his bruised skin. There were a couple gasps and Blaine peered at his torso again. He didn't know what people were gasping about; it was just some bruising. Albeit, a lot of bruising, but just bruising.

"You need to wrap that up." Quinn said wisely. "I have an ace bandage in my cheer bag-"

"I'm fine." Blaine cut her off. "I've had worse."

"How? Dude, you're wrecked." Sam said.

Finn snorted "Look at Karofsky. Seriously man, you messed up his whole face."

"Probably looks better than before." Blaine said offhandedly.

The glee club laughed, but again people started saying how he needed to wrap himself up. Blaine just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the talking around him until Kurt grabbed his hand.

"Please?" he asked quietly enough for only Blaine to hear. Blaine gave him a disparaging look and Kurt pulled a pout.

Blaine resisted the urge to smile and he stubbornly shook his head. Kurt pursed his lips. "It's not going to get any better if you don't do anything about it."

Blaine just grinned at him. "You just want to see me shirtless." he teased. Kurt started to smirk before he frowned, a crease formed in between his eyebrows.

"Your lip is bleeding," he said.

Blaine sucked his lower lip into his mouth and Kurt pulled a handkerchief out of his pants pocket and handed it to Blaine. Blaine took it with a small smile and pressed it onto his lip.

Kurt sighed and adjusted the handkerchief so it was actually doing something and mumbled, "God, you're an idiot."

Blaine moved the fabric to say back to him, "You love me, and you know it."

"Okay, if you're done flirting the pants off each other," Mercedes said loudly. "We need to fix you up."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm fine, it's just a little bruising. I promise I'll live without the use of an ace bandage."

That's when Mr. Shue decided to partake in the conversation. "Blaine, I can't let you do nothing; I think you should go to the nurse."

Blaine groaned loudly. "Fine, wrap me up." Blaine said in a defeated voice. He sat down on a stool and Quinn grabbed the bandage.

"Shirt off." she requested in her sweet tone.

"Buy me dinner first." Blaine mumbled, but took his shirt off anyways.

"You _do_ have a tattoo!" Sam said, pointing to the small amount of black writing on Blaine's chest.

Blaine peered down and shrugged.

He leaned closer and read it, and Blaine said, "You guys still haven't really grasped the concept of personal space, have you."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Anderson, as if you're any better."

Blaine shrugged and Quinn finished adequately wrapping up his middle. Blaine took his seat beside Kurt. Mr. Schue started going on about getting back to work and whatever. Kurt thumbed over the dark bruise along Blaine's jaw with a disgruntled face.

Blaine leaned close to Kurt's ear and whispered, "What do you want to do tonight?"

Kurt half-grimaced, "Nothing exciting; Friday night dinner with my dad, Carole, and Finn."

"Oh," said Blaine with disappointment in his voice. "That's fine. Maybe we can do something over the weekend."

Kurt looked at Blaine with a certain amount of bemusement, taking his hand off Blaine's face. "You're invited, you know." Blaine's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "When Carole told you you're always invited, she meant it."

Blaine squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "I don't want to intrude…" he muttered vaguely. He knew how sacred the Friday night dinners were. He really didn't want to get in the way of them and have Kurt's dad hate him for the rest of time.

"Blaine," Kurt said importantly. "Would you do me the great honor, of accompanying me to dinner tonight with my family?"

Blaine snorted and turned away from Kurt and his faux seriousness. "You're such an ass."

Kurt laughed. "Coming from you," He teased.

"Kurt, Blaine, pay attention." Mr. Shue reprimanded from the front.

Several glee club members made _ooooh-_ed_,_ like when their fifth grade classmate got in trouble.

"Oh, screw off," Blaine said flippantly, rolling his eyes.

After glee club, Blaine drove Kurt back to his house, since he'd picked him up that morning anyways. He immediately kicked off his shoes, and dropped his bag and coat at the door before walking into the family room.

Kurt followed him in with two water bottles. Blaine collapsed on the couch, leaning in the back and resting his head on it with his eyes closed.

"Want to put in a movie?" Kurt suggested, crouching down to fiddle with the DVD player.

"What do you have?" Blaine asked.

"Rent, Pride and Prejudice, Moulin Rouge, 50/50, Chicago-"

"Chicago," Blaine interrupted, and opening his eyes. "I love that movie."

Kurt slid it into the machine with a small smile. Blaine sat up but winced, holding his stomach.

"Do you want an icepack?" Kurt asked gently.

Blaine just nodded. Kurt came back with an icepack and handed it to Blaine. "Thanks, honey." Blaine murmured softly, pressing it onto his abdomen.

"Honey?" Kurt prompted with a smile. "That's a new one."

Blaine just smiled at him. "Well you are very sweet."

The previews started, Kurt walked over and sat down beside Blaine. He left a few inches between them, but as soon as he was seated, Blaine put his arm around Kurt's shoulders and slid closer to close the gap.

Kurt laced his fingers in with Blaine's, curling his legs up and placing his feet in Blaine's lap, between his legs, his knees against Blaine's chest, careful to avoid his injured midsection.

Then Finn walked in. Without seeing him Kurt knew who it was, because only Finn was capable of making that much noise when stepping inside a house.

Finn walked into the family room, and didn't even give the cuddling boys a second glance, given the amount of times he'd walked in on weirder things. He looked at the TV and asked, "What're you watching?"

"Chicago," Kurt answered before Blaine could come up with an equally inappropriate and ridiculous answer.

Blaine nuzzled his nose into the crook of Kurt's neck and Finn looked at them again. "So are you guys… dating?" He asked, his inflections going everywhere.

Neither of them answered. Blaine glided his nose up the pale column of Kurt's neck, breathing in his scent. Kurt just started the movie.

Finn slumped into the recliner and watched the first fifteen minutes of the movie, glancing over at the boys occasionally before he burst out, "Seriously, are you dating?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and Blaine pressed a kiss to the indent below Kurt's ear. Kurt let a small giggle escape and he turned away from Blaine.

"Watch the movie." He chided Blaine, turning his eyes back to the screen.

"You're more interesting." Blaine countered, pulling Kurt closer, uncomfortably close, and holding him to his chest. Finn's brow was furrowed at them.

"You guys are weird." He finally decided. He stood up from the recliner and started walking toward the stairs.

"I love you too, Finn." Blaine called as he ascended up the fairs. Finn just groaned.

Blaine laughed and pressed his face into Kurt's hair, tightening his hold around Kurt's waist.

They watched the movie in relative silence for a small while when another car pulled into the driveway. Kurt tensed momentarily.

"Is it your dad?" Blaine mumbled against Kurt's neck.

"Maybe?" His voice filled with uncertainty, he peered out the window to try and see whose car it was.

"Whatever," Kurt finally decided, unable to see the car. He leaned his head back against Blaine's chest and turned his eyes back to the screen. Blaine rubbed Kurt's shoulders, where he was the tensest.

The front door opened and closed, and Carole walked into the family. She smiled sweetly at the boys upon entering.

"Hi Kurt, hi Blaine," she greeted them. "I hope you boys will be joining us for dinner tonight?"

"Of course," Kurt responded with a smile.

Blaine wondered what Carole thought of them. If she thought they were dating, or if she liked them together, if she liked Blaine. He hoped she liked him, and it seemed like she did, though his track record with adults liking him was spotty at best.

Something he really liked about Carole was how little she asked questions. About Blaine, about Blaine and Kurt.

But Carole was a nurse, and a very caring woman, Blaine was almost surprised that she didn't ask about the bruise on his face, then he realized she probably couldn't even see it, given how wrapped up in Kurt he was.

After a while, Kurt asked, "So why Chicago?"

"I've always loved it." Blaine answered. "The zeal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, the idea of women taking revenge on their abusers…" he didn't realize until after he said it his blatant his last comment was. "I just love it." Blaine hurried to say.

"Catherine Zeta-Jones?" Kurt prompted.

"Oh, yeah. I'd go straight for Catherine Zeta-Jones." He said immediately.

Kurt laughed, probably at the idea of Blaine being straight. He forgot Carole was even in the room with them until he heard her giggle.

She stood up and crossed the room and started towards the kitchen.

"Kurt, I'm going to start dinner, your dad won't be home until I finish, most likely." She said as she pulled on an apron.

"Do you want any help?" Kurt offered. Carole denied it, and Blaine was maybe a little grateful. He enjoyed Carole's company, and he wasn't a bad cook or anything, he'd just rather be with Kurt.

Their movie was soon finished, and they hurried upstairs. They walked into Kurt's room, hearing explosions and gunshots fill the air as they passed Finn's door.

They sat down on Kurt's bed and Blaine sighed. "Okay. Lay it on me. I know you want to say something."

Kurt breathed evenly. "I don't know what to say."

"_Kurt_," Blaine said emphatically.

Kurt sighed. "Fine, I just…" he paused for a long moment before he said, "I just wish you wouldn't get in fights over me."

"I wish I didn't have to."

"But you don't!" Kurt said, the fire building up inside him. "It's not your fight, it's not my dad's, or the glee club's, or anyone's but _mine_."

"That doesn't mean you have to fight it alone." Blaine murmured gently. "And I'd much rather be fighting with you, than against you."

Kurt rubbed over his eyes. "It's not that easy, Blaine-"

"_Yes,_ it _is_." Blaine interrupted. "If someone hurts my boyfriend, I'm going to do something about it. Point blank."

Kurt glanced up at him with wide eyes, feeling his anger quickly melting away as a different kind of warmth filled him up. "Boyfriend?"

Blaine's eyes widened and his cheeks went pink. "I mean - yeah. That's how I've always thought about us."

Kurt grinned and asked, "How long is always?"

Blaine just blushed deeper. "I don't know, basically since that night on your porch when Carole walked in on us."

"Our first date?"

Blaine whined and swatted at Kurt. "Stop making fun of me." He mumbled.

Kurt scooted on his knees closer to him and seated himself between Blaine's legs. "I'm not making fun you, I swear. I actually really like that."

Blaine looked up at him from under his eyelashes. "Really?"

Kurt pressed a soft kiss on Blaine's cheek, right on his bruise. "Yes I do, _boyfriend_."

Blaine cupped his cheek and pulled him in for a real kiss, eagerly nipping at Kurt's lips. Kurt pulled back and said, "But, don't think I'm not still upset about the fight." He said in a warming voice, breaking several times as Blaine interrupted him with kisses.

Blaine started kissing down his neck. "All this for the word 'boyfriend'?" Kurt asked breathlessly as Blaine wrapped his legs around the former's waist. "I should start calling you a lot of other things."

Blaine hummed into his skin, using his legs to pull Kurt even closer. "Like what?" He panted against his neck.

Kurt kissed him hard on the lips before answering as Blaine sucked on his jaw line. "Honey, baby, sweetheart," Blaine nipped especially hard and Kurt's breath hitched. "Lover-"

Blaine pushed Kurt back on the bed and shifted in his jeans. "Wow, you're really enjoying this." Kurt commented as Blaine started grinding against him.

"You would be too," Blaine breathed, "if you had a boyfriend as infuriatingly gorgeous as you, calling you 'lover'."

Kurt smiled and pulled Blaine's lips back to his, lifting his hips off the mattress to meet Blaine's thrusts.

He pushed Blaine up and against the headboard and straddled his lap. He could feel Blaine's cock hard on his ass, and he realized two things; 1. He was essentially giving his boyfriend a lap dance 2. He really enjoyed it.

He grinded himself against Blaine, sucking on his lower lip as another thought came to him: if they were naked, they'd be having sex right now.

Blaine broke off the kiss and turned his head to catch his breath, if only to have Kurt start giving him a hickey.

"Kurt, if you don't stop right now, I'm gonna cream by pants in like, ten seconds." He panted.

"Do it," Kurt growled, rocking himself against Blaine, paying his attention back to the reddening spot on his neck.

"You do know we have to go have dinner with your family in half an hour, right?"

"I don't care," Kurt breathed. "You can borrow something of mine. I want to see it. I want to watch you falling apart because of me."

Blaine breathed heavily and took Kurt's lips again, clinking their teeth together in a way that would've hurt if he wasn't brinking on an orgasm.

And fall apart he did. His head tilted back and his mouth fell open. He closed his eyes and his loud, gasping moan is what made Kurt come too.

Blaine went flaccid and he panted, catching up with his breath; Kurt dropped his head on his boyfriend's chest and breathed heavily.

Kurt stiffly started getting off of Blaine and the bed. He walked over to his closet and pulled it open, grabbing a pair of yoga pants and dark jeans. He threw the jeans to Blaine.

"Just so it looks like the same pants." He said, stepping into his bathroom to change.

Blaine stood up and walked over to Kurt's vanity, grabbing baby wipes and wiggling out of his jeans. He cleaned himself off and threw his bottoms into Kurt's laundry hamper. He peered around the room and rummaged through Kurt's underwear drawer before grabbing a pair of his boxer briefs.

He pulled on Kurt's clothes, cuffing the jeans a few times and shifting uncomfortably. They were very tight. No man's jeans should be this tight. Kurt looks amazing in them, but he felt like his thighs were being held on with duct tape.

Kurt walked out of the bathroom and tossed his own clothes into the hamper before looking Blaine up and down. "You should definitely start wearing tighter jeans."

Blaine looked over Kurt in his yoga pants and said, "You should definitely start wearing yoga pants to school."

Blaine stepped over to him and held his waist, and kissed him without hesitation. Kurt smiled into his lips and pulled back when someone knocked loudly on his door. Blaine slid his arms off of him and Kurt took his hand and called, "Yeah?"

Finn opened the door slowly, as if giving them time to neutralize before they came into his line of sight. "Dinner's ready." He said before closing the door and thumping down the stairs.

Kurt pulled Blaine over to the door and led him downstairs. Finn was taking his seat; Burt and Carole were still standing in the kitchen. They sat down in their usual Friday night dinner seats as Burt and Carole came over carrying dishes.

"Oh, Blaine," Carole said as she sat down. "What happened to you?" she asked, peering at his bruised face.

Blaine hesitated for a moment in his answer so Finn chimed in, "He got in a fight at school today!"

Kurt shot him a hard look, but Finn didn't seem to think he said anything wrong. Blaine peeked at Carole, and saw concern etched over her features.

"You got into a fight?" Burt asked. Blaine looked at him and saw a vague look of surprise on his face, mixed with the familiar look of disapproval.

"Kind of," Blaine admits.

The air was still for a moment when no one said anything. Blaine stepped on Kurt's food lightly as to alert him of his internal semi-panic, Kurt placed a delicate hand on Blaine's thigh to assure him everything was fine. Finn of course, looked around in confusion at everyone's faces with a vague trace of anxiousness in his features.

"How does the other kid look?" Burt asked finally, serving himself and Carole. Kurt and Finn quickly followed suit, Kurt putting food on Blaine's plate as well as his own.

"Like shit, but that's not unusual." Blaine answered quickly, cursing himself immediately after for swearing at the dinner table.

Burt didn't seem to mind. "It wasn't Puckerman, was it?" he asked through a mouthful of food.

Blaine snorted. "No. He's the only reason I got out of it."

"So who was it?" Burt asked.

Crickets. None of the boys answered, all of them sharing quick glances.

"What?" Burt asked impatiently. "Who was it?"

"It was Karofsky." Kurt answered quietly.

"The cowardly little-" Blaine grumbled until Kurt placed his hand over Blaine's to make him relax. Blaine shot him an apologetic glance and kept eating. Kurt laced their fingers together and looked nervously at his dad.

Burt's entire face was red with anger; he looked very, _very_ close to exploding. "Karofsky?" he asked incredulously. "We can't go a goddamn day without that son of a bitch messing with my family can we-"

"Burt," Carole chided the same time Kurt admonished, "Dad."

"No, I've had enough!" Burt exclaimed. "Your school's not doing a goddamn thing about that kid, and I've had enough of him using you as a punching bag!"

"Dad, it's _fine-_" Kurt tried to say, but Burt didn't listen. He let go of Blaine's hand and clasped his together on his lap.

"It sure as hell ain't _fine, _kid, it's unacceptable. I am going in Monday morning and talking to that useless principal and I swear to god-"

"Burt, you know they'll say exactly what they did last time." Carole muttered to him. Kurt knew, and his dad knew too, it didn't matter if he went to the school board they wouldn't do anything unless Karofsky confessed or they saw it with their own eyes.

"I don't care! I won't take that kid hurting Kurt anymore! Kurt, do you seriously not think your worth putting up a fight?" Burt yelled. Blaine looked over at Kurt and his heart dropped when he saw Kurt's eyes filled with tears.

Kurt stood out of his seat and left the dining room, running up to his room and slamming his bedroom door behind him. Blaine stood up too and ran after him, leaving the Hudsons and Burt the only ones still at the table. Burt dropped his head into his hand and breathed in deeply. This was one hell of a Friday night dinner.

Neither Carole nor Finn said anything and Burt wanted to scream. Why the hell wouldn't that kid just leave Kurt alone? Why didn't Kurt care? Why wasn't anyone on his side about doing something about it?

"Burt," Carole gentle voice said beside him. "I think you should go talk to Kurt."

"I'll give 'em a minute." He said, standing up and walking into the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

He opened it as he sat down and took a long drink before he said suddenly, "Why doesn't he care? I want to do something about it, and Kurt doesn't want to be any part of it."

Finn was still eating, but he was looking at Burt like he wanted to say something. Carole shrugged. "Maybe he wants to deal with it on his own. You know how independent he is."

Burt sighed and said, "I get it. I do, but I can't keep worrying about my son's safety when he's at _school _of all places."

"I don't think you have to." Burt looked up and saw Finn looking at him, his voice a lot more confident than his face. "Blaine picked a fight with Karofsky 'cause he pushed Kurt into a locker. He walked away with bruises, but Karofsky's whole face is messed up. Like, really bad. I mean, I wouldn't want to do anything that'd fu- mess me up that bad." Finn cast an anxious look at his mom at his almost slip-up, but she was looking at Burt.

Burt sighed and stood up from the table again. "I'm gonna go talk to Kurt. Just finish your dinner."

He grabbed his beer and started up the stairs slowly so they wouldn't creak too much and got to Kurt's room. He'd left his door open barely an inch, so Burt just peeked inside. They were on the bed, which made his blood start to boil until he saw Kurt crying. They were talking in hushed voices so he had to strain himself to hear them, but he could gather enough by the tears in Kurt's eyes and the way Blaine was protectively holding him.

Kurt pulled himself out of Blaine's hold and stood up, saying one thing more before pressing his lips to Blaine's and walking into his bathroom, closing the door behind him. Burt knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open. Blaine looked up at him and Burt stepped into the room.

"Hey, kid," he said.

Blaine pointed to Kurt's bathroom door. "He's in the bathroom – he's just freshening up, he should be out in a minute –"

"Yeah, I want to talk to you first." Burt said, sitting at Kurt's desk.

Blaine looked appropriately surprised, but he composed himself quickly and raised his eyebrows.

"Look, kid, I know you're trying to help, and I know you care about my son, but I can't do nothing here. You've gotta see that." Burt said.

Blaine nodded. "Of course I can, but you have to listen to me, Mr. Hummel," he paused to make sure Burt was listening before giving him a significant look. "Kurt will be safe."

Burt sighed. "No, he won't." he said bluntly. "He won't be safe until either Karofsky's out of that school, or he is."

Blaine's face dropped. "No, don't take him out of the school, he – he loves it there, you know he does," he started rambling. Burt almost pitied him, but he was truly touched by how much he wanted Kurt to stay with him.

"I know, and I don't _want_ to," Burt said. "But he's not safe_._ He was shoved into a locker earlier _today_ and you want to tell me he's safe?"

"No, I get it, I do," Blaine assured him quickly. "And that's my fault; I was lazy, I wasn't paying any attention to Karofsky, but we – me and the glee club – we can keep him safe, I swear."

Burt sighed, "Kid, I want to believe that, but I can't. It's been too long since he's been able to feel safe at that school, and I can't accept that any longer, especially if Figgins or Schuester or Sylvester won't do anything about it."

Blaine was getting fidgety, like he was nervous. He glanced down at his hands and said, "I know, I know," he breathed. "Just, please, Burt."

Blaine looked up at him. That was the first time Blaine ever directly addressed him by his first name. He'd never noticed how big Blaine's eyes were; they made him look more young than any of his other features, even his height.

"I will protect him. I – I'll make sure he's safe, I swear. I'll do anything to keep him safe." He said in a firm voice that was just soft enough to sound sincere.

Burt stared at Blaine for a long moment before he said, "Okay." Blaine's guarded gaze didn't change any. "Come down for dinner when he's ready."

He almost wanted to laugh at Blaine's dumbstruck expression, but he just walked into the hallway and closed the door behind him. Fine, Kurt could stay at McKinley. He could believe Kurt would be safe, and he trusted Blaine, which was a little weird, but that was because after that conversation, he was absolutely positive of one thing: Blaine Anderson was in love with his son.


	12. You're Crazy and I'm Out of My Mind

**Not as quick an update as I anticipated, school's been crazy. Anyway, here's another filler. Prepare yourself, next week is BIOTA (!)**

Justin Bieber week was still going rampant. Even Finn was joining in on the craze, though Kurt was fairly sure that was because Sam was currently winning over Quinn with it. He tried to hold his tongue, but he brought it up at dinner, finally cracking when Finn wouldn't stop doing that stupid hair flip.

"So what's up the Bieber look?" he asked. "I thought you didn't like him."

"Appealing to the masses," he said, giving Kurt the crap excuse he'd given Tina in glee club.

He nodded, showing clearly on his face he was unconvinced. "And that was _only_ reason?"

Finn shrugged under his scrutiny and his mom piped up, "What, are you going after Rachel again?"

He huffed, rolling his eyes. "_No_, mom. I'm done with her."

Kurt turned to her and explained in an aside, "He's going after Quinn."

She just sighed. Kurt kind of felt bad for Finn, what with his history with those girls, but he needed to stop dating crazy, high maintenance girls. Quinn and Rachel were different kinds of crazy, but still, it was becoming a problem.

"You don't get it," Finn said to him, "With her it's like… fireworks. You know? When I kiss Rachel it's just not the same. With Quinn, it's fireworks."

Kurt thought over that. He'd only been with one person, really, so he wasn't sure he'd as easily compare it the way Finn could. He wasn't sure if he felt fireworks when he kissed Blaine exactly, but he felt something. He felt a lot of something.

Speaking of Blaine, Kurt still hadn't asked his dad if he could spend Saturday out of Lima with him. It's not like they'd be _alone_, but he was still a little unsure if his dad would make a big deal about it.

"Hey, dad?" he prompted after a few moments of silence, feeling his heartbeat speed up a little in his nervousness. "Are we doing anything on Saturday?"

He shrugged, paying more attention to his meal than to Kurt. "I don't think so. Why, do you have plans?"

He wetted his lips earlier. "Maybe? I was wondering if it'd be okay if I spent the day in Columbus, with Blaine and his family."

Finn and Carole were chatting by themselves, Burt looked at his son with his lips pursed. "Alright, kid, just… be careful."

Kurt raised his eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry?"

His dad shrugged. "It's just that you and Blaine are… well, _you_. You're not hiding when you're out together – not that that's a bad thing, but when you're in a city where people don't know you… I just want you to be aware."

Kurt bit back his snarky comment on how his dad made it sound like they were jumping each other's bones in public, but that was the kind of comment that got his privileges taken away, and he didn't want to risk not being to go to Columbus with his boyfriend over the fact that he had a sharp tongue. So he distracted himself thinking about what he wanted to do there. He had been thinking about a little bit of a makeover for himself… Partly for the New Year and for his newfound physical confidence, and really, just for a change. But besides that, he knew Blaine's birthday was coming up, even though Blaine refused to bring it up, and he needed to plan something. Something special, because Blaine really deserved something special. Maybe he could get Mary involved, or even Rachel… more importantly, he needed to figure out what his present should be.

**?!**

On Friday, Kurt actually almost wanted to _thank _Coach Sue for stopping the Justin Bieber mania. My Chemical Romance wasn't his first choice, but it was a great song, and he'd missed honest-to-god group numbers. Plus, he looked amazing in his outfit.

"Hey," he felt Blaine wrap his arms around his waist after the number, pressing his cheek against Kurt's neck. Kurt could feel just a little stubble on his cheek, and he squirmed a little, cause it tickled. "Good job in that number, you looked great."

Kurt hummed contently. "Thank you, you did too. You look cute in flannels."

Blaine smiled and let go of Kurt and instead took his hand. "So, did you get permission from your dad to come to Columbus this weekend?"

Kurt turned to him with a smile. "He's okay with it." Blaine grinned. "And you should know, I've already planned out our entire day."

"Of course you have," he murmured.

"If you have any requests, we might be able to work that in." he teased, grinning when Blaine rolled his eyes. He kissed him on the cheek and pulled him off the stage to change out of their performance clothes and go back to the choir room.

"You know how everyone's rethinking their look this week?" he said as they walked back to the choir room hand in hand.

"Are you seriously considering a Bieber cut?" Blaine asked, darting his eyes over to him, wide with wonder.

Kurt shook his head. "No. Not in this lifetime. But I was thinking about a haircut. Or dying my hair. Or something."

"Ooh, that sounds exciting." Blaine agreed, grinning. "We can go to a stylist in Columbus if you want. I can take you to my mom's old place, if you like."

Kurt hummed. Yeah, he'd allotted time for such an event. He still wasn't sure where, or what he wanted, he just knew it was time for a change. They sat in the back row for their little glee club meeting, where Rachel (to no one's surprise,) raised an argument over the song and proposed original songs, as if any of them had ever written songs before. Neither he nor Blaine hesitated in raising their hands against the idea.

Unfortunately, after glee club, Kurt went home alone, because he had too much homework to do, especially since he was losing his Saturday. Plus John was making Blaine do extra chores that night so when he got back to Lima, he could relax and not do any extra cleaning, or whatever. So it was another Friday night dinner with just the Hummel-Hudsons, but it was nice. Kurt loved his new family, and he was always reminded how much on nights like that; completely ordinary, with no one fighting, or even without anything too exciting. It was still amazing to him that he'd actually found family with Carole and Finn. When he introduced Carole to his dad, it was for almost entirely selfish (and misguided) reasons. But now, everything felt right in his life; his dad was healthy again, school was going well, his brotherhood with Finn was better than anyone had anticipated, his relationship with Blaine was still blossoming and still made him feel happy, and safe, and loved. After the never-ending shit storm that was sophomore year, and even the beginning of junior year, it was so refreshing, and so wonderful that for once, everything felt alright.

**?!**

Blaine picked him up at quarter of ten, sitting beside him with Ben and Rosie in car seats behind them, Mary driving with no one in the passenger seat.

"Hey, Kurt," Mary greeted him cheerfully, grinning at him in the mirror, sunglasses taking up most of her face.

"Hi, Mary." He returned, smiling before drawing his attention to the hand rapidly patting him on the shoulder. It was Rosie, grinning at him widely, Ben already asleep beside her.

"Hi, Kurt!" she said, grinning widely. "Look! I lost my tooths!" she said, pointing to the gap in her smile where her front teeth used to be.

"Teeth," Blaine corrected, lacing his fingers together with Kurt.

Maybe it ran in the family, because not thirty minutes later, the wide awake Rosie and Blaine were sound asleep the same as Ben, all of them snuffling softly in their seats. When Kurt pointed it out to Mary, she said, "Oh yeah, ever since Blaine was little, a car ride put him right asleep. Same with Ben and Rosheen."

"But it's only been half an hour." He pointed out reasonably.

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter; if they know it's a long car ride, they can fall asleep in ten." He snorted. Blaine took a lot of naps, but that was adorable, and definitely something to take note of.

"So were you thinking of doing anything for Blaine's birthday?" he asked after a few minutes.

"He asked me not to," Mary said, pulling onto the highway. "He's really adamant about not making a big deal for it." She glanced at him, stirring a little, and looked at Kurt in the mirror. "But between you and me, I just don't think he knows any better."

His eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the road. "I love my sister, Kurt, with all my heart. She was my big sister, I adored her. But she wasn't a good mother. I'm not saying I'm mom of the year, but she didn't treat Blaine very well." She glanced back and likely saw the dread in Kurt's eyes. "Oh, honey, she didn't – she wasn't like his dad, she just –" she shook her head and started over. "She loved him. She did, she loved him so much, but some people just don't understand what parenthood means. It means putting your needs second, and making sure your kids are always happy, and healthy, and safe. Blaine didn't grow up happy and healthy and safe."

Kurt swallowed heavily. He knew that, he did, but it was really different knowing it, and hearing it said out loud. Blaine would never say out loud how shitty his childhood was, but that didn't mean he was clueless. He knew Blaine's dad was abusive and his mom was an enabler. Blaine still loved his mom, so he knew he'd never admit she wasn't a good mother to him, but he was partly relieved Mary could see it and admit to it.

"And I know worse parents than my sister was, but she wasn't the kind of parent who gave him much of a birthday party, you know?" Kurt nodded slowly. "Don't feel too bad, honey, he's okay. He grew up well, considering what he grew up with. He just grew up a little too _fast_."

He nodded again, throwing his arm over Blaine's shoulders and pulling him a little closer, letting Blaine unconsciously adjust himself on Kurt's shoulder.

Mary glanced back at him one more time. "I'm glad he found you." She said. "I think you're good for him. You're a sweet boy"

He smiled softly at Blaine, brushing the lint off his sweater idly. "Thanks, Mary."

"But don't you think for a second, Kurt Hummel, that if you break my little boy's heart I won't be singing a very different tune."

He snorted, pulling his feet up on his seat. "I'll keep that in mind." He murmured, resting his head on top of Blaine's and watching the trees fly back through the window. He didn't notice when he started falling asleep, the next thing he was aware of, he was blinking himself awake to Blaine's glossy eyed smile and messy hair.

"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty." Blaine greeted him as Mary helped her kids out of their car seats. He just hummed, unbuckling himself and climbing out of the car, onto the street with Blaine lacing their fingers together.

Mary turned to them. "Alright, boys, meet me at the restaurant at 6:00, alright?" Blaine nodded and Kurt used his free hand to brush up his hair. Blaine fixed the wrinkled collar of his shirt and pulled a scarf around Kurt's neck, the one he got him for Christmas.

"Where to first?" Blaine asked, buttoning his pea coat as Mary and the kids started off to wherever they were headed.

Kurt shrugged. "Window shopping?"

"Sure thing." He agreed, walking the opposite direction of his aunt, tugging Kurt along by the hand. The only problem with window shopping, was it was just cold enough they wanted to be inside. So to distract themselves before they found somewhere to go inside, Kurt decided to strike up a conversation he'd been meaning to have.

"So what for you want for your birthday?" He asked as they strolled down to the street. He wanted to know what Blaine would say, even if it was nothing, especially after what Mary told him. It made him want, so much more, something special. Blaine was turning seventeen, it was about damn time he had a sufficient birthday celebration.

"Nothing more than what you've already given me." Blaine answered.

"Blaine," Kurt whined. "I'm your boyfriend, remember? Getting you a birthday present is practically the first rule."

Blaine snorted. "I don't need anything for my birthday," he said. "We just had Christmas and Valentine's Day, you've already given me way too much."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "If anything, I need to get you something after Valentine's, given you bombarded me with gifts." Blaine shook his head, and Kurt squeezed his hand. "Fine, we'll take it easy on a birthday gift."

Blaine grinned and kissed him on the cheek before stopping on the sidewalk. "This is the salon my mom and Mary used to go to together; it's really great for something edgy, and they do great highlights."

Kurt glanced up at the sign before shrugging at Blaine. "Sure, let's go in here."

He was a little nervous, because he hadn't significantly changed his hair style since he was five and he got rid of his awful bangs for the haircut he still had. But he really did want to do this, and what better time was there? So they went inside, and Kurt could feel eyes on them; women with unnatural hair colors and guys with eyes that lingered on his boyfriend a touch more than he liked. To be fair to them, Blaine was looking especially cute, with his button-up/sweater combo and his curls pushed back on the sides because of how he was sleeping.

"Hi, how can I help you boys today?" a woman with bubblegum pink hair asked at the front desk.

"Hi," Blaine said, striding up to the desk, swinging his and Kurt's hands between them. "This beautiful man needs an appointment. He's not sure what, but something fresh, you know?"

She looked over Kurt's hair before smiling at Blaine. "He's cute."

His eyes widened at her. "Tell me about it." She giggled and Kurt blushed and half heartedly mumbled, "Stop," to him.

She was scribbling something down on the clipboard in front of her. "Well Francis is free right now, he's great with fresh looks." She glanced up at Kurt again. "There's definitely a lot of potential in those locks."

A guy in a tight black V-neck shirt walked out to the front desk area and looked at the boys, and said in a sort of high pitched, vaguely nasally voice, "Did I hear my name?"

Front desk girl turned to him. "Oh, Francis, you ready for an appointment?"

He nodded, "Always. Which one?"

Front desk girl pointed at Kurt and gestured for him to follow. He stepped forward and she asked Blaine, "Do you want to go back with them?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but Francis cut him off. "Are you the boyfriend?" Blaine nodded. "Then the answer is no. I want you to be amazed."

Blaine laughed and sat down in one of the free seats near the door, winking at Kurt as he walked away, following Francis into a room that had no door on its hinges. "What's your name?"

"Kurt."

"Kurt. That's an interesting name. And your boyfriend's?"

"Blaine."

Francis nodded and sat him down in the customary black chair, draping a coat over him and facing him to a mirror. "So you're not sure what you want, is that right?" he nodded. "Well, I have an idea. Do you have any objections to dye or scissors?"

"I don't think so." He responded a little warily.

"Great. Let's get started." Francis said with a grin, starting on a hair cut. Kurt tried not to worry too much, but it was the first haircut he'd had where he wasn't giving explicit instructions on how it should be cut, he was a little nervous. Francis was cutting a lot off the sides, above his ears, and it was a few minutes before he grabbed the dye. He turned Kurt away from the mirror so he couldn't even see what he was doing anymore, and god, that was scary. It took maybe another half hour until he was finished, and Kurt tried to avoid seeing what he was doing, cause god, what if it sucked? So he clenched his eyes shut and tried not to think about what the tugging on his hair or the water running over his scalp indicated Francis was doing.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and he peeked one eye open at Francis. "You ready to see yourself?" he bit down on his lower lip and nodded. Francis whipped the sheet off him, hair falling to the floor, and spinning his chair around so Kurt was facing a mirror.

Wow. He stared at himself in the mirror like he didn't know himself. He looked… different. He was blond. Not Sam blond, but his bangs were highlighted lightly, and were pushed up off his forehead entirely. The sides, as he predicted, were shorter. Everything was styled up, it was much more mature than his last haircut, and he… he looked good. He hadn't thought that about himself much in high school, given the usual high school insecurities, plus the fact that he was constantly bullied for how he looked. But his cheeks looked thinner, his face looked longer, he genuinely _liked_ how he looked; even more, he liked how liking his looks made him feel.

"Good?" Francis prompted, smiling down at him.

"Yeah, yeah, definitely," he responded quickly, realizing he hadn't said anything. He brushed through his bangs lightly. "I like it."

The hairdresser nodded. "You looked good," he assured him. "Am I right to assume you know your way around a can of hairspray?"

"Of course," he responded immediately.

"Great, you'll need it if you want to keep those bangs framing your face like I want them to." He advised, walking Kurt back into the main lobby.

Kurt walked out, his hair a little damp, his expression nervous as he approached Blaine. Not that he was really all that worried, but obviously he wanted his boyfriend to like his haircut.

"How do I look?" He asked, Francis watching for Blaine's answer, who was staring at him with his mouth hanging open just a little.

"Honestly?" Kurt nodded quickly, seeing Blaine's eyes look him up and down even though he was just asking about the hair. "Extremely hot."

Francis laughed and started ringing up their bill as Kurt blushed. He paid for his haircut, giving Francis a generous tip, and followed Blaine outside, linking their arms together.

"Seriously though, do you like it?" He asked once they were on the curb of the otherwise empty street.

"Yes. I'm serious, you look unfairly hot right now." Blaine responded, combing through Kurt's hair with the hand that wasn't stuffed in his pocket.

Kurt's cheeks went pink. "I don't think you've called me 'hot' before." He commented. "You've called me a lot of things, but I don't think 'hot' has been one of them."

"Need I say it louder?" Before Kurt could respond no, Blaine cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "My boyfriend's hot!"

"Shut up!" He chided him giddily, his face burning as he looked up the sidewalk to see if anyone heard him. A few people glanced over, but for the most part they were ignored.

Blaine was laughing. "Alright, alright, I'll behave." He promised before lacing their fingers together and swinging their hands between them. "So what would you like to do next?"

Kurt shrugged. "I was thinking about doing a little shopping while we're here," he said, looking at Blaine's outfit. "I'd love to get you some new jeans."

Blaine snorted. "You just want an easier way to stare at my ass at school."

"Can you blame me?" Kurt asked cheekily. "But apart from that, I think you'd look really cute in some red jeans I saw at Brook's Brothers a week or so ago."

"I do love Brook's Brothers…" Blaine sighed, rounding a corner.

"I know, they're practically all you wear." He teased.

Blaine shushed him and pulled him into the store. "So are you buying things for yourself?"

Kurt nodded. "It's time for Kurt Hummel to make a comeback." Blaine's eyebrows rose. "I'm so tired of being the victim, Blaine, I'm done with it. And to commemorate that, it's time for some changes. In wardrobe, for instance," he said, pulling them over to the back of the store where the casual wear was.

Blaine frowned. "You're changing how you dress?"

"Yes and no," he turned to him. "I'm not going to stop being _me_, but I was just thinking… I wear so many layers and so many things to hide myself away. I'm done hiding."

Blaine looked at him for a long moment before he grew a dopey, love-struck little smile. "I'm so proud of you."

Kurt grinned, feeling the corners of his eyes crinkle. He loved more than anything making Blaine proud. "Let's get some clothes, huh?"

Blaine nodded excitedly and disappeared a few racks over. Kurt pulled out a few pairs of pants he wanted Blaine to try on and a few for himself. Blaine was looking through polos. "Blaine, you do not need anymore polo shirts, they're all you wear."

Blaine pouted and held one up. "But look how cute it is."

Kurt laughed and stepped over to him, pulling pressing a slow kiss on his lips as he pried the shirt out of his hand. "You're cute," he told him. "But coming from someone who obsesses over fashion, no one needs five different red polos."

Blaine sighed but let Kurt put the shirt back. "Fine." He grumbled.

Kurt smirked at him and pulled out another, a light green Ben Sherman shirt instead and held it over Blaine. "What about this one? Green looks great on you." Blaine accepted it and moved over to the button ups.

Kurt loved shopping with Blaine; despite his protests, he always eventually conceded to Kurt's requests, he tried on whatever Kurt gave him without argument, he didn't complain about how long they were in a certain store, and best of all, he carried the bags.

They spent the longest time in Marshall's, where Kurt fawned over every other thing he found. Blaine called him adorable, opposed to when Mercedes or Rachel would complain about everything looking the same. "C'mon, honey, let's go try some of this on." Blaine suggested once Kurt's arms were overflowing with things for the both of them.

They went to the dressing rooms and went into adjacent rooms, walking out after every new outfit to show each other what they looked like and give opinions. Blaine wasn't one hundred percent onboard with how tight everything was on him, but there was something about Kurt checking him out every time he came out of the dressing room that convinced him to give it a try.

"So do you know where dinner's going to tonight?" Kurt asked once they were stripping off what they had and pulling on the next things to try on.

"Not sure. We might be meeting John someplace." Blaine answered casually.

Kurt was fairly certain his heart stopped. They were meeting John? _He_ was meeting John? The homophobe Blaine lived with? He loved Mary, but Blaine had told him John was just as bad with trying to repress his sexuality as his dad used to be, how would he react to meeting Blaine's boyfriend?

"Sweetie? You okay over there?" Blaine asked after a few moments of Kurt's silence.

"I'm meeting John tonight?" he asked, his voice hitched with worry. Blaine didn't respond, but instead walked out of room and opened the curtain of Kurt's, stepping inside.

"Is that okay?" he asked worriedly, taking the place of Kurt's stilled fingers and buttoning the Vivien Westwood shirt he was wearing.

"Yeah, I think so, but…" he said slowly, coming over his shock. He looked up to meet Blaine's warm, concerned eyes. "He's going to hate me."

Blaine felt something sink low in his stomach. He should tell Kurt. It wasn't hard. _John doesn't know you're my boyfriend_. Bam, problem solved. Kurt would understand, if he told him the whole story… and it wasn't like _none_ of his family knew about Kurt; obviously Mary did, same with Ben and Rosie, it was just… John couldn't know. Blaine was fully aware it was selfish and a terrible boyfriend move, but John _couldn't _know. If he knew, it'd ruin _everything_. It was better to not saying anything. For now, obviously, it wasn't like he'd tell Kurt on their wedding night that he never told his uncle they were together.

Blaine used to be embarrassed when he accidentally said something or thought about something for their wedding. Like, he and Kurt hadn't been together that long, they shouldn't be thinking that kind of stuff; but Kurt was… Kurt. He could just feel it, he could practically see them in the future, like on nights where they can stay up on the phone until three and not get bored, or like when they got each other sick and had to spend the entire afternoon taking care of each other, he could just _feel_ how much potential they had, he could feel himself want to be with Kurt for that much longer.

"Hello?" Kurt prompted. Blaine shook his head at himself, chiding himself for getting too lost in thought to respond.

"Sorry," he pecked Kurt on the cheek. "Don't worry about him. If he hates you, that'll just be one more thing you and I have in common."

Kurt didn't look very amused by his joke. "Listen, Kurt, John…" god, Blaine, just _tell_ him, dammit! "He'll hate you. It sucks and I'm sorry, but he'll hate you on principal. But the point is, it doesn't matter. I care a lot more about having you than pleasing him. He'll hate you and be pissed at me if he ever you know, gets the whole of us, but it doesn't matter to me. He's not going to be in my life forever, and you are."

Kurt's eyes were soft and bright, looking more blue than usual because of the curtains shutting off the small fitting room from the rest of the store. "I'm going to be in your life forever?" he asked in a small voice.

"I hope so." Blaine murmured, straightening out Kurt's already straight collar. He looked back up Kurt's eyes, biting his lip. Kurt was smiling only a little, and when Blaine looked at him again, he leaned forward and kissed him, sliding his tongue between Blaine's parted lips. Blaine smiled into his lips. Kissing Kurt always made him smile, which was good on one hand, because you should always want to smile about the person you're kissing, but it was slightly problematic too, because it cut their kisses shorter.

Kurt pulled back after they weren't able to kiss because they were both grinning, and touched their foreheads together. "I hope so too."

Blaine hummed and ran his eyes down Kurt's body. "You should get that outfit." He told him. "Makes your chest look amazing. And don't even get me started on those jeans." Kurt laughed and Blaine kissed his forehead before slipping out of his room and going back into his to change back into his street clothes.

After they paid, Blaine called Mary to see where they were, holding Kurt around the waist as they walked down the street. "Hey, Kurt and I are heading back to the car, where are you guys?"

"We're just finishing up at Toys R Us, we'll be there in a second," she hung up and Blaine dropped their collective bags, leaning against the van. Kurt stood in front of him, intrigued by Blaine's eyes. They were doing this indescribable thing that he was almost positive Blaine did on purpose that was just tantalizing, or something. They looked dark, and seductive, and so, so _tempting_. They _did_ things to Kurt, things that shouldn't happen when he was wearing skinny jeans.

"What?" he asked, his face flushing.

Blaine licked his lips and Kurt shifted, his jeans started to feel too tight. "Nothing," Blaine said innocently, as if there was any way he didn't know exactly what he doing to Kurt. "I was just thinking about… stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Kurt asked, stepping closer to him.

Blaine looked him up and down, letting his eyes linger and drag slowly up and down Kurt's form. "Stuff like… getting you off in the back of your car, and blowing you in your room even when your family's home." He responded casually.

Kurt blushed, his mouth falling open, looking around again to make sure no one around them was listening. "Blaine!" he chided. "You can't just _say _stuff like that!"

Blaine smiled. "Sorry," he apologized, his voice noticeably lacking its usual sincerity. "Sometimes I just get a little overcome with how hot my boyfriend is and my thoughts just… wander." He explained, smiling and turning away from Kurt as his aunt and cousins appeared beside him.

"Hey, guys, I see you did some shopping." Mary commented, nodding to their bags as she unlocked the car. She looked at Kurt and her eyes lit up. "Kurt! You look great, I love your haircut." She said as Blaine buckled Ben and Rosie into their car seats.

"Thanks, Mary," he said, his face still red because of Blaine, who seemed to be completely unfazed.

She turned to her nephew and said, "Blaine, honey, would you mind terribly if you and Kurt didn't join us for dinner tonight?" she asked, her voice a little concerned. "It's just that John is meeting us with his boss and a few coworkers, and you two almost never get along, especially if Kurt's there, I just don't want-"

He waved off her protests. "I get it." He responded. "Kurt and I can find something to do, and we can just meet you whenever you're ready to go back to Lima."

She kissed his cheek. "Thanks, I owe you one." She promised. "We can all go out soon if you'd like to."

Mary went to the driver's side and Blaine turned to Kurt, "Do you mind not meeting John tonight?"

Kurt looked relieved. "God, no, that's such a weight off my shoulders." He said quickly. Blaine smiled and pecked his lips and unceremoniously threw their bags in the trunk as Kurt climbed into the car.

So when Mary and the kids went to some fancy place a few blocks from John's hotel, Blaine took Kurt to this cutesy, old fashioned ice cream parlor that served disgustingly greasy burgers and the waitresses were on roller blades. It was charming, and exactly right for them, and _such_ a relief that Kurt didn't have to meet John.

Obviously he'd have to some day, it was just… he didn't exactly sought out people who'd hate him, but he just felt like there was something Blaine wasn't telling him about John. He had no clue what that'd be, or why he'd need to hide anything, it was just… something didn't feel right. Not to mention Blaine was instinctively a secretive person, he just felt like there was something else. But he decided to just brush it off, for now. He was on a date that was straight out of a romcom, he had every intention of enjoying as much of it as possible, and worry his boyfriend later. And even if he wanted to stress over it, it was pretty hard to worry about anything with a boy you're crazy for was feeding you bites of his food and telling bad jokes so because he wants to see you smile with your teeth.


End file.
